Save a Magnificent Macaw from Regional Extinction

1/15/2021

Dear Friend,

We are so grateful to you for supporting our Cyanoptera macaw conservation program. Thanks to people like you, we raised over $1800 to protect the Cyanoptera macaw, an endangered subspecies of Ara macao macaw.

Successful nesting is our primary hope for recovery of this species. During the final months of 2020, we focused on activities that would prepare us for the current nesting season. We were impact by rains from two hurricanes, but fortunately our community partners were safe throughout the storms. Here are some of the activities we carried out in recent months:

• finding previously used nests and cleaning them out, e.g. removing hives of killer bees
• training rangers from local communities in macaw monitoring methods
• preparing the field station for a critical nesting season (making the field "shack" more habitable and safe for our biologists by placing near wood slabs and a new roof"
• surveying macaw populations flying and foraging throughout the Cosiguina reserve
• Monitoring and protecting endangered yellow-naped amazon parrots that are found in the same area. The parrots nest early (Oct - Feb), before the macaw nesting begin (Jan - May)

Since November our two biologists and three community rangers have been in the field pretty much continuously, and now that some macaw pair are selecting nesting trees, our effort is focused on carefully watching nest-trees. Other activities we have planned in the coming weeks are Junior Ranger environmental education activities in the nearby village of La Salvia, monitoring of two yellow-naped Amazon parrot nests that are under our care, and the delivery of 3 months of food relief to 60 families living in extreme poverty in the area and whose livelihoods were hurt by the hurricane. Addressing human needs is an important part of stopping the illegal wildlife trade.

We need to continue to gather financial resources for this program in 2021, but your help has already had a big impact. Thank you for making this possible! And please, spread the word or consider starting a monthly donation today to help these efforts continue.

Warmly,

Sarah and the Paso Pacifico team

Links:

• Fall/Winter print newsletter. feature about macaws