Autor: Admin Paul

ProAves invites organizations and individuals working with different animal groups to participate in the workshop of the Alliance for Zero Extinction to be held in the framework of the IV Congress of Zoology 2014 in Cartagena.

The workshop’s main objective is to integrate all conservation entities in Colombia who are interested in preventing the extinction of species in our country through the Colombia AZE-initiative. In this way promoting conservation actions by identifying sites that require protection and identify needs for conservation of such locations in order to implement programs to protect these species and their sites. Joining the Alliance is open to any conservation group that adheres to the principles of collaborative conservation.

Additional information about  the congress  www.congresocolombianozoologia.org

Additional information about  the workshop www.congresocolombianozoologia.org

For registration or additional information contact Mónica Parada Email  mparada@proaves.org

In rural based educational venue, Policarpa Salvarrieta in el Anzuelo, Meta, Luis Alberto Pallares teacher and his rector Jairo Novoa, have shown that the remoteness and lack of resources are not an excuse to manage school activities aimed at conservation.

Reaching the village of el Anzuelo takes about 4 hours on a motorbike during good weather and in the rainy season, about 5 hours from the town of Mapiripan. There is rural based educational venue, Policarpa Salvarrieta, a site with 12 boys and girls aged from 6 to 12 years.

Surrounded by a small forest in the middle of the giant savanna, the school functions as a fortnightly boarding school and the children can go to their homes, some of them walk up to 8 hours to get there, others use horses; his teacher, 26-year-old Luis Alberto Pallares, with his rector, Jairo Novoa, have shown that the remoteness and lack of resources is no excuse for managing school activities aimed at conservation.

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ProAves has, for more than a year, with the Amazonas Project and biological education strategy, checked out this educational venue leaving the basis for developing ecological bio-literacy efforts in the field learning from practice, recognition of territory, experiences with living organisms and enjoying nature.

Today we see these children accompanied by their teacher walking the nearby farms, meeting the owners and hearing their stories, they go out to find monkeys in the few patches of remaining forests, climb mango trees and better still the children have a garden at the back of their school, used to prepare meals and to recognize native plants that are disappearing.

This strengthening of the activities proposed by ProAves, is valuable because it shows that the appropriation and sense of belonging by teachers is heading towards a true continuity and comprehensive training for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems.

Supported by:

Las Tangaras Bird Reserve, located in the municipality of Carmen de Atrato, Chocó, was honored to receive a 15 community members of the indigenous reserve of La Puria and El Consuelo in order to make a practical theoretical workshop on seedling production nursery.

The call was made ​​by the City Hall of Medellín, the town of Carmen de Atrato and ProAves under the Return Plan of family’s victims of forced displacement, who since 2013 have begun to return to their territories. The workshop was conducted with the objective of making enrichment with native plant species they identify as the most traditionally used to build houses and fences as well as to eat and make crafts.

The workshop, which lasted for 6 hours, was led by the ProAves conservation and environmental education team composed of Dany Quiceno and Elver Ledesma. It started with an activity of social mapping where participants drew and described the native tree species used in their communities; as a result, it was found that indigenous communities used many palms and native trees to make their homes, fences, and others like banana and peach palm trees, for food.

Then the ProAves forester explained how to build a nursery and start the plant production process. Likewise, he explained the different methods used to collect seeds from the forest and reproduce the plants in the nursery.

To finish a practice session was conducted in the two nurseries of the Tanagaras Reserve, where attendees were able to see how native tree species nurseries are produced.

With the completion of these workshops in the town of Carmen de Atrato, in conjunction with the City Hall of Medellín – UARIV (Care and Reparation for Victims Unit) and ProAves, the local communities are expected to start producing the species most used by them in nurseries. These species have been decimated and it is now very difficult to find them in abundance from previous years so it is necessary to enrich them with species they, themselves, identify as the most traditionally used.

We appreciate the participation of the 15 leaders of the indigenous reserves; also we thank the City Hall of Carmen del Atrato and the City Hall of Medellín – UARIV for its interest in promoting this type of activity.

21 individuals of the Black-headed Spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps), species critically endangered, were found on the Fundación ProAves Titi Cabeza del Algodón Reserve, within the framework of the Evaluation y Conservation project of the Black-headed Spider monkey.

This primate, known by indigenous people Embera Katíos as Yarré, is one of the most endangered and least studied primates in Colombia. It has a restricted habitat in Panama, Colombia and Ecuador and is currently included in the Red List of the International Union of Nature (IUCN) as Critically Endangered. This is due to the reduction of their population in 80% in the last three generations, coupled with the constant threat of hunting for bushmeat, trafficking of individuals and the loss and transformation of their habitat.

Like other primates, it plays an important role in the ecosystem, being key in seed dispersal in forests. It is one of the largest New World monkeys; weighing between 7 and 10 kg, having long limbs, elongated body, no thumb on its hands and a prehensile tail. It inhabits mature and disturbed forests, is frugivorous, diurnal and uses the canopy for displacement activities, foraging and resting (Defler, 2010).

The trails where Juliett Gonzalez, Project researcher, registered Black-headed Spider monkey individuals in May have high diversity, height and plant heterogeneity, making them a suitable habitat for this species.

During June 2014, daytime walking tours took place during which a total of 21 individuals of the species were sighted. A first encounter with 8 individuals: an infant, three adult males, three adult females, and a juvenile in displacement activity and a second register of 13 individuals: an infant, seven juveniles, two adult females and three adult males.

The species is known by locals and can certainly be used as a flag to preserve the last remnants of tropical rainforest in the Chocó. Currently in Colombia there is a misjudgement of the status of populations of this primate.

Special thanks to:

With 25 activities of ProAves in 7 municipalities and the Colombian capital, we celebrated the International Migratory Bird Day 2014.  The World Migratory Bird Organization recorded this year’s celebration, as the most successful in history with more than 400 events in 90 countries.

For this year’s campaign, World Migratory Bird Day in association with the World Tourism Organization (WTO) highlighted the importance of the mutually beneficial relationship between tourism and conservation. With the theme “Aerial Corridors: Migratory Birds and Tourism”, thousands of people gathered at events worldwide, from bird watching and great eco-tours, local art exhibitions, international birding conferences, all to celebrate migratory birds and the need for their conservation.

In Colombia, the foundation ProAves conducted various events with the aim of bringing the knowledge of Migratory Birds to the community and actions to protect them, such activities rang from field trips, art exhibitions, traditional games to radio programs, among others..

Through these initiatives in the area of environmental and biological education, inclusive processes arise, where the community, especially the educational, recognizes and appropriates part of each of the strategies that promote the conservation of this biological group in particular.

In Bogotá, with the support of Proárbol, Acueducto de Bogotá and the Secretaria Distrital de Ambiente, trips were performed around the Jaboque and Tibabuyes wetlands and Jardín Botánico de Bogotá,  we also participated in the Usaquén Environmental Festival led by Conservation International,  Usaquén Verde and Alcaldía Local de Usaquén; these were some of the programs directed from the capital for this important celebration, bearing in mind that in May we also celebrated the International Day of Biodiversity.

In the town of Jardín, Antioquia, 5 activities were conducted that gathered about 166 people, mostly children and young people . Among the activities include the  bird watching excursions, a radio program, circuit game about migratory  birds, Cinema in the Park and an ecological workshop.

In the village of Minca, Santa Marta, 6 ecological Migratory Birds workshops were performed: from Snow to Sun, Four Beautiful Migratory Birds, We’re not the Only Ones, Road Map and Migratory Ladder. These activities culminated in craftwork in El Campano, Vista Nieves, agroindustrial colleges of Minca, with about 180 participants, highlighting the birding workshop with the environmental group Friends of the Birds to the El Dorado Nature Reserve.

The activities in the town of Roncesvalles, Tolima, focused on traditional recreational games such as Ladder on Migratory Birds, Reach the bird, Lottery, Ladder, Find the Couple. Finishing in an evaluative manner, the participating children solved a word search. In Roncesvalles they were attended by 80 schoolchildren from Antonia Santos, Bruselas and el Coco schools.

 In Génova, Quindío, 4 activities were performed: a Field Trip to observe birds and an Exhibition at the Main Park with large format migratory birds painted by members of the environmental group Friends of Birds, a query type workshop where young people in the group could inquire about 2 of these species and culminating with  decorating the municipal library with the mural “Migratory Bird Month”. These activities gathered around 150 people.

In Cajamarca, Tolima, 2 Field bird watching took place in which 35 people participated.

In the town of Mapiripan, Meta held a drawing competition for migratory birds with students from Mapiripan Educational Headquarters of the town and a field trip for bird watching in which 20 children between 7 and 12 years old participated.

In San Vicente de Chucuri, Santander, two radio programs were performed, an a discussion on climate change with the support of Fundación Natura and workshops on solid waste recovery.

With the support of:

We have a historical record of the Rusty-faced Parrots (Hapalopsittaca amazonina), 6 active nests with up to 3 chicks between March and June, in late March the first occupation was recorded and the first chicks were recorded in early June. In May, the count of 79 individuals was performed in the usual monitoring site in the Colibrí del Sol Bird Reserve, they never had numbered that amount before.

After three successful years with the occupation of 4 nests between 2012 and 2013, in 2014, and after maintenance work, we double this figure with 6 occupied nests.

The maintenance tasks include changes in the shape of the nests and location sites of these places trying to find the right height. Changes were performed in the size and shape of the cavities that allow entry to the nest, and annual maintenance, where the sawdust inside is replaced at the end of the breeding season so that new couples find them suitable.

The Rusty-faced Parrot (Hapalopsittaca amazonina) is categorized as Vulnerable, primarily due to the small size of its population and the loss and fragmentation of its natural habitat caused by the expansion of the agricultural frontier in the Andean forest; for their protection, in 2005, ProAves created the Colibrí del Sol Bird Reserve, with the support of American Bird Conservancy. 

The reserve is located on the western flank of the Western Cordillera in the geographic system Páramo de Frontino, in the municipality of Urrao, Antioquia. It was created to conserve the habitat of the Dusky Starfrontlet (Coligena orina) and other endemic birds in the Páramo del Sol area, it has an area of 1806 acres of forest and high Andean paramo, between 2400 and 3750 m

This reproductive success is thanks to the initial support provided in 2008, by The Zoological Society For The Conservation Of Species And Populations (ZGAP) that allowed the preliminary study of the natural history of the species in Colombia and project continuity provided by Loro Parque Foundación and American Bird Conservancy.

The populations of Rusty-faced Parrot (Hapalopsittaca amazonina) have increased in recent years; this can be evidenced in the records of the monthly monitoring performed in Colibri del Sol Bird Reserve, reaching a historical record in May 2014 where a count of 79 individuals was performed in the usual monitoring site, never before have they numbered that amount.

Adopt a nestbox

To prevent the extinction of a species of parrot in Colombia, you can support us through the online donation program Adopt a Nestbox, which is sponsoring the exploration, construction, monitoring and assessment of natural nests and artificial nestboxes during a year for some of the most endangered parrot species in the country. To make a donation, simply click here to complete the adoption form.