Nido Adoptivo™ Is Building On Achievements, Moving Forward

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The Nido Adoptivo™ annual funding campaign for the nest box project was originated and developed in 2007 by Bird Endowment's founder Laney Rickman in partnership with the Bolivian NGO Asociación Armonía to support the Blue-throated Macaw Conservation Program in the El Beni state of Bolivia, which is the endemic birds' natural range. This effort follows the “Saving the Blue-throated Macaw Ara glaucogularis: A Species Recovery Plan,” developed by Asociación Armonía and Loro Parque Fundación. 

 

The Blue-throated Macaw is Critically Endangered with only an estimated 400 - 450 adult birds in the wild. The objective of Nido Adoptivo™ is to increase the annual reproductive output of the Blue-throated Macaw wild population through a strategy, utilizing nest boxes attached to trees.

 

Each US$250 donation to sponsor a nest box for a year covers the costs of materials to build and monitor the nest boxes as well as field work to locate and establish appropriate nesting areas where artificial nest boxes would be accepted by wild breeding pairs.

 

Since the program’s inception, an incredible 113 Blue-throated Macaws have fledged from the nest boxes on the Laney Rickman Reserve. For the first time, in 2017, a second-generation chick was raised by parents who both had fledged from these nest boxes. In 2021, a record of 9 breeding birds were confirmed to be ringed individuals, having fledged from these nest boxes in previous years and returning to breed, demonstrating the success of this program and promise of future population growth.

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​As part of Armonía’s constant efforts to improve the nest box project, they set up camera traps for the first time in 2020 to better understand breeding habits of the Blue-throated Macaw. Bennett Hennessey with Armonía narrates these YouTube videos with each one summarizing the successful results from the 2019–2020 and 2020-2021 breeding seasons.