Bird Endowment committed to fund a minimum of 20
nest boxes to be erected in Bolivia. In January, we asked you to donate
to the project. So many responded that 34 nest boxes are being erected
-- surpassing the goal by 70 percent!
THANK YOU.
To help in Saving the Blues™ in Bolivia, Bird Endowment, in cooperation with the Armonia / Loro Parque Fundacion Blue-throated Macaw Conservation Program, has originated and developed an annual funding project named Nido Adoptivo™. It empowers participation by domestic aviculturists and bird lovers, each of whom will be honored as a "Beni-Factor™" for a year. The 2007 donors will be known hereafter as Founders of the annual program. The Founders are:
EL BENI-FACTORS™
Katy Secor, Massachusetts
Eva Dicker, California
Claire Dicker, California
Dr. and Mrs. Robert Stonebreaker, California
Parrot University, North Carolina
Margo Rose, California
Kathryne Thorpe, Virginia
Jennifer White, North Carolina
Deborah Stambul, California
PEAC-Cleveland, Ohio
Janice Boyd, Louisiana
Kelly and Spencer Wheeler, Washington
France Archambault, Texas
Hank Greer, South Carolina
Laurel Greer, South Carolina
Paige Greer, South Carolina
Ryan Greer, South Carolina
Reid Greer, South Carolina
Emma Greer, South Carolina
Hayden Greer, South Carolina
Evan Greer, South Carolina
Bolivar the BTM, Pennsylvania
Attila Molnar, DVM, California
Aurelia Lynn Friedman, California
Vicki Baiamonte, Texas
Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture, Colorado
Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture, Colorado
Lisa Johnson, Arizona
Greg and Patty Muzic, Ohio
Northwest Exotic Bird Society, Washington
Companion Bird Club of Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania
IN MEMORIAM
Harry Heidenreich, by The Leather Elves, Massachusetts
Rita Tindall, by Ark-La-Tex Caged Bird Club, Louisiana
Baby Giselle, by Wendy's Parrots, Texas
Situation with nesting opportunities
The loss of suitable tree nesting cavities appears to be a limiting factor
for the populations of hole nesting birds in lowland Bolivian savannahs,
particularly the Blue-throated Macaw in the Beni Department. Many suitable
nest holes have been lost because of annual grassland
burning destroying dead forest-edge trees, cattle trampling affecting forest
regeneration, and deliberate destruction of nesting trees by illegal trappers
after Macaw chicks.
Experimental artificial nest boxes have been placed within the Blue-throated
macaws home ranges. Of 20 boxes placed in palm trees, 18 were used by cavity-nesting
species during the initial 2005-06 trial (one was used by a Blue-throated
Macaw pair in an unsuccessful nesting).
The results of the experiment clearly show nest competition in Beni to be
extremely high. There is a risk that the provision of nest boxes will favor
the more aggressive species over the Blue-throated Macaws. In response, designs
in Beni-Factor's Nido Adoptivo™ program will be designed to favor the Blue-throated
macaws and deter or exclude competitor species.
Principal objective of Nido Adoptivo™
The Nido Adoptivo™ objective
is to increase the annual reproductive output of the Blue-throated Macaw
wild population by installing nest boxes across their range and providing
new funding annually to replace, maintain, monitor, and guard the boxes.
Bird Endowment's exclusive El Beni-Factors™ program is a cooperative effort
with Armonia.
Nido
Adoptivo™ benefits
wild Blue-throated macaws
and rewards El-Beni-Factor donors
Bird Endowment's El Beni-Factors program in 2007 funded 34 of the boxes now going up in Blue-throated Macaw range of Bolivia.
Following is a Sept.
4 Update from Bennett
Hennessey in Bolivia:
Had a meeting with Mauricio yesterday. All seems to be going well. We are
going to put up 50 boxes in the southern end, and another 10 in the Santa
Ana area. Santa Ana de Yucuma is north of Trinidad on the other side of
Rio Mamore. It looks like there is a good populaiton of BTM there -- where
we are thinking of also buying a reserve. But the area is flooded for six
months of the year.
Nancho will be doing most of the Loreto (southern end) nest work. He has your
list, and will go out placing nest now, on the ground. Most will be set up on
Totai Palm trees. These are the small palms, usually with a two feet thick trunk.
Mauricio says they are good because the BTM likes them for holes, they give a
dense canopy for shade and rain, and the base is covered with long sharp spikes
which will protect the nest (hmmm, maybe why BTM likes them).
When they are all situated, a team with ladders will go out to each one and put
them up. It is supposed to be a real hassle this part,
taking a few hours each. When we have the sites, Nancho will develop his monitoring
plan. We are varying the nests in groups of 10, some with small holes, some high
up, some low, to see what they like.
Nancho has the list, and knows where the nests will go. I would imagine there might be some variation, trees can fall, but it should be straight forward.
If Nancho finds Blue and Yellow Macaws using a hole, he will block the hole and
leave the nest useless for more or less 10 days. But if a bird is in the nest
with eggs, we will leave it alone. We will also not block off if other birds
are using the nest like Black-bellied Whistling ducks, Laughing Falcon, etc.
-- Bennett Hennessey
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