Belize Yellow-headed Amazon
Conservation
Checking up on
the Chicks
The
yellow-headed amazon, Amazona oratrix
is considered globally endangered by IUCN and has suffered dramatic decreases
in the last decades, mostly due to
tremendous poaching pressure for the pet trade.
In Belize, partners working with this species have not been doing nest
and chick health exams, nor monitoring the populations. Dr. Joyner spent a week with TIDE, who
manages the Payne's Creek National Park.
There she worked with managers and Charles Britt surveying active nests,
which had eggs in them at that time. They have been using artificial nest boxes
with great success. Later in the reproductive
season, the Belize Wildlife Clinic returned to the site (whose veterinarians
had previously been trained by Dr. Joyner) and conducted chick exams. She also taught park rangers how to do roost
counts and conducted several with them, counting over 200 at one roost site. One Earth Conservation has been asked to
return in 2015 to continue capacity building for population monitoring in other
locations of the yellow-headed amazon in Belize. For a reflection on roost counts in Belize, go here.
This project
will continue in 2015.
Current Partners:
Guatemala Yellow-headed Amazon
Conservation
We Found Them,
Now Let's Keep Them There
The last time anyone
counted the yellow-headed amazons in Guatemala was in 2013. At that time there
were 70 individuals in a roost site near Punta Manabique in Guatemala. Dr. Joyner developed contacts in the country and
went on an expedition to see if the birds were still there in April 2014. She was able to find two pairs, one through
audio identification and the other visually.
This is disheartening news but better than seeing none. There area has also experienced heavy
deforestation and there are no current parrot conservation efforts in the area.
She is working with partners to return to the area in 2015 and conduct training
in parrot conservation and monitoring, and will conduct counts as well. This
will be part of a tri-national effort where conservationists from Belize and
Guatemala will also attend. For
reflections on this project, go here.
This project
will continue in 2015.
Current
Partners:
Honduras Yellow-headed Amazon
Conservation
They've Been
Found, Now Let's Keep Them There
This was an
unplanned project for 2014. It came
about because a chance email from a prominent birder in Honduras reported that
the yellow-headed amazon was still in Honduras.
As this site was close to the Mesoamerican Society of Biology and
Conservation Congress, Dr. Joyner conducted a rapid assessment of the birds in
the area and made contacts with possible partners, including CC-Omoa. Dr.
Joyner will return to this area in 2015 and conduct training in parrot
conservation and monitoring, and will conduct counts as well.
This project will continue in 2015.
Current Partners:
