Categoría: Proaves @en

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.

ProAves promotes research not only into birds but also other species such as the special but little-studied case of the grasshopper. Currently, the entity, Forestry Consulting Group, is conducting the “Grasshoppers of Colombia” series among other publications seeking to collect visual and biological information for these species.

The research is being conducted in the Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve located in the town of San Vicente de Chucurí, Santander. The entity Forestry Consulting Group, is currently conducting a photographic and information gathering survey about the grasshoppers of Colombia, with our Reserve Reinita Cielo Azul, one of the research centers that generated the observation of a large number of possible species and new records. Saltamontes de Colombia

According to the researcher Juan Manuel Cardona, a member of the research team which is performing the collection of grasshoppers of Colombia to print a number of publications, ranging from research papers and monographs, articles and books to guides oriented to the interested public.

One of the jobs that is expected to have a major impact, is the publication of the new records of species and genera in locations where they were not yet known, because as Cardona explained “specialists in these Orthopteras are practically nonexistent in the country, despite their obvious abundance and diversity.”

That is how ProAves promotes the conservation of the rich biodiversity of our Colombian forests.

On the International Women’s  Day, March 8, Women for Conservation calls international community for empowering women in the remote areas of Colombia and protecting  rainforest by creating new job opportunities through introducing a new brand of ecofriendly jewelry.

Women for Conservation assists women in Colombian rural areas rich with biodiversity by providing them with job opportunities through teaching useful craft skills and helping them to understand and actively participate in conservation. Elizabeth Salaman, CEO Women for Conservation, believes that  “women are a catalyst for change.”  Women are the key to the conservation because they have power to educate children to be better citizens of the Earth. “We want to bring to the world a different perspective on women and their major role in protecting natural resources,” said Ms. Salaman.

Giving women an access to training and opportunity to earn supplemental income help local families, whose wellbeing often depends on extracting natural resources or forest cutting, to be good stewards of their environment.  For the past two years Women for Conservation successfully conducted 20 workshops, training 45 women the skills of jewelry making; soap, candle, hand stitch leather handbag making; and knitting. Selling their goods will create an additional, much needed income for the families of Colombian artisans, living in the impoverished communities in the buffer zones of protected areas. Thanks to the extra money many families were able to purchase what they have been dreaming about for a long time, such as washing machine, a digital camera, and farm animals.

Women use only natural, sustainably harvested resources and nontoxic, lead-free dyes in creating their goods. Due to natural patterns there are never two products alike. They are unique, one of a kind masterpieces made out of Tagua, Azai, Bombona, Chocho Rojo, and Coconut. These exotic seeds are often handpicked right from the forest floor. Harvesting and commercializing seeds promotes forest growth and provides a sustainable way to generate income for local communities, reducing deforestation and illegal hunting for endangered wildlife species.

Women for Conservation is not new to the conservation field. The initiative started in 2008 by Colombian born sisters, Sara and Elizabeth Salaman, in the memory of the deceased mother. Women for Conservation began as a pilot project of Fundacion ProAves, American Bird Conservancy’s Colombian partner and had fantastic results in involving women in conservation of wildlife species at the grassroots level.

Women for Conservation’s idea of empowering Colombian women extends to encouraging them to continue their education, training them basic business and skills, providing medical assistance to them and their children, and generally making them feel valued, appreciated, and respected.

In 2009 the River Ñambí suffered a severe environment blow as a result of the illegal exploitation of oil that took place in the pipeline that runs through the grounds of the El Pangan Reserve. Today, thanks to our complaint, working together with Ecopetrol, the identification of critical areas and the provision of two forest rangers, the recovery of the river and the return of associated species are evident.

El Pangan Bird Reserve is located in the village of Junin, municipal of Barbacoas, Nariño. It was established in 2002 in the interests of conserving the forests in the south of the country, in the foothills of the Nudo de Pastos in Nambi river basin, a tributary of the River Telembí.

In 2009, the foundation ProAves made ​​a serious complaint about the irresponsible behavior of unscrupulous people who punctured the pipeline that crosses the reserve. The extraction of crude oil was made through illegal valves installed on the Empresa de Petróleos de Colombia, Ecopetrol’s pipeline.  The situation was catastrophic for the ecosystem as waste from the extracted products was thrown into the water sources, at the time it was estimated that over one hundred thousand gallons of oil had flowed through the ravines into the Ñambi river causing enormous damage and death to the flora and fauna of the region.

Today, thanks to the vigilance through patrols made by two guards at critical points of the pipeline, and timely reporting to state authorities with jurisdiction in the area, we have managed to prevent further spills. Therefore, water sources largely have recovered and hence the Nambi River, where it is again possible to observe some of the species that were displaced during the time when the river was in bad shape.

For more than 12 years the foundation also has held ​​ProAves socialization activities with neighboring communities to avoid other scourges such as logging, hunting and other activities that jeopardize the spectacular nature reserve, home to such important species as The Harlequin Poison frog (Dendrobates histrionicus), the Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatos) ) and the Plumbeous Forest Falcon (Micrastur plumbeus).

Thanks to the interest and the work of the Environmental Management Board of Urrao, in Antioquia, of which ProAves forms a part, the Municipal Council of the same municipality regulates the entry of visitors to the Paramo del Sol thus contributing to its conservation.

Since 2012 a process initially led by CORPOURABA called “Workshops Páramo del Sol” in which the Municipality, National Parks, Educational Institutions, township tour operators, civil society and Fundación ProAves participated.

First the entry rules to the Páramo del Sol for visitors were settled, then the group increased participation and stakeholders to become what is now the Urrao Environmental Board where different groups and sectors of the municipality interested in environmental conservation come together and increase the environmental knowledge among residents of this county.

The greatest achievement of the Board is to regulate the entry of visitors to the Paramo del Sol, which was approved unanimously by the Urrao City Council in November 2013. The project was born from the Environmental Board and today is in the socialization phase with the community.

For the Mayor of the town of Urrao, Luis Eduardo Urrego, “the environmental Board  allows us to hear the voice of the citizens, who recognize the importance of a naturally biodiverse zone, the protection of the paramo is very significant for those of us who live in the town and know the impact on the development of conservation areas, from the administration we hope to expand and ensure the reserve area”

During 2014 the Board will begin a series of workshops and training for its participants and socialization activities that benefit environmental education and awareness, use and appropriation of Urraeños in terms of environmental conservation and the natural spaces in the town.

The Dusky Starfrontlet Bird Reserve is located in the municipality of Urrao which is linked to the National System of Protected Areas (SINAPs). It has dense forests and high altitude Andean valleys with a variety of endemic species.

On an expedition in 2004, a critically endangered species of hummingbird, Dusky Starfrontlet (Coeligena orina), was rediscovered and the Reserve took its name from it. There has been no record of it for over 50 years.

ProAves has been present in the town of Urrao for over 8 years, where many major research, conservation and environmental education projects have taken place which seeks the benefit of environmental conservation and the natural heritage of the town.

The municipality of Jardín, Antioquia, shows its environmental commitment to providing this benefit to the Yellow eared Parrot Bird Reserve. Since 2014 we received this incentive to the conservation and protection of renewable natural resources through unified exemption from property tax.  

This incentive is a recognition of the work carried out by ProAves in the town, it shows the enormous conservation will by the municipality in terms of the preservation of rare and endangered species found in its territory. It becomes a reason to continue with the objectives of research, conservation and environmental education developed by ProAves around this protected area

Since 1998 ProAves has developed the Yellow-eared Parrot Conservation Project in the town of Jardín, one of the main activities for the protection of this species.

as a result of the Project, ProAves founded the Yellow eared Parrot Bird Reserve in 2006 with the aim of conserving the Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) a bird species in danger of extinction. At present, the population of the Yellow-eared Parrot in the municipality of Jardín and the Yellow eared Parrot Bird Reserve is one of the two most stable populations of this species in Colombia.

Their habitat is between 1,500 and 2,800 meters above sea level and is associated with the presence of Wax Palm (Ceroxylim quindiuense) in high Andean forests. This species is recognized as the national tree but it is threatened by its use in the preparation of bouquets during the celebration of Palm Sunday at Easter time. Deforestation and implementation of open areas in palm plantations; the Wax Palm is the tallest palm in the world and it grows at higher elevations above the sea.

The reserve also conserves various species of endangered endemic flora and fauna like the Tanager Finch (Oreothraupis arremonops) an almost endemic species categorized as vulnerable (VU), the Purplish-mantled Tanager (Iridosornis porphyrocephalus) an almost endemic tanager species considered threatened (NT), the Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatos)  listed as vulnerable to extinction (VU) and the species of Jardín Passion Flower (Pasiflora jardinensis) endemic to Colombia registered for the first and only time in the Yellow Eared Parrot Bird Reserve.

Now the El Dorado Reserve has an additional property located in the upper part of the Cuchilla de San Lorenzo. There are 197 acres of which 74 acres are grazing lands that were dedicated to livestock and the rest is composed of cloud forests and palms, the original habitat of the Santa Marta parakeet.

The El Dorado Reserve was created in 2006 based on the urgency of preserving one of the most important and fragile sites in Colombia, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, home to a large number of unique plant and animal species. In 2013, the Sierra was named the most important concentration of threatened wildlife on Earth. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the place with the highest number of endemic species in Colombia, which places it as the most important for the development of conservation projects at this time in our country.

The acquisition of this property is very important for the conservation of the Santa Marta Parakeet (Pyrrhura viridicata), a species of high Andean parrot, endemic to the mountains and is listed as an Endangered species. This newly protected area gives the Santa Marta Parakeet natural resources important for their development and population stability, the forests are also the feeding, foraging, roosting and nesting place of this species.

The reserve is also home to other important bird species such as The Santa Marta Bush Tyrant (Myiotheretes pernix) EN and the Antpitta of Santa Marta (grallaria bangsi) VU, the Harlequin frogs, atelopus nahumae and atelopus laetissimus, are also endemic to Santa Marta.

In the new properties in addition to the Natural Bird Reserve El Dorado, the “Laguna Sagrada” also is an important place for the indigenous communities of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and also threatened by livestock.

All this biological and cultural heritage generated the need to purchase and preserve the new property, now, ProAves, after 3 years, can provide protection for research activities such as monitoring the population of Santa Marta Parakeet (Pyrrhura viridicata) the program of artificial nests for this species, reforestation and natural restoration programs in order to recover the 74 acres of pastures and provide more and better habitat for species conservation.

The 2530 acres that now comprise the entire Reserva El Dorado now have the maintenance and monitoring of two rangers, being one of the preferred worldwide locations for specialist birdwatchers.

Income and visits Contact Ecoturs: Carrera 20 No. 36 61, Bogotá, Colombia. Tels. (1) 245-5134, 340-3285. info@ecoturs.org 

Supported by:

Since August 2013 we have recorded the daily visit of two female and a male Blue-Billed Curassow (Crax alberti) in the vicinity of the cabin on The El Paujil Reserve. Since January the couple alternate foraging for food, which may mean a possible nesting, at the same time the second female also makes sporadic approaches.

The Blue-billed Curassow (Crax alberti) is considered one of the most endangered species on the continent, mainly due to habitat destruction, fragmentation of the forests where it lives and the hunting for human consumption.

Until now Curassow observations were very sporadic, random and of few individuals. Thanks to the creation of the Natural Bird Reserve El Paujil in 2003, a substantial recovery in vegetation cover and population density of the species has been made.

From the very same year of its creation the Reserve records have been kept of the species by camera traps installed in the Reserve, but only today, and thanks to the recovery of its habitat, it is possible to see directly and easily this elusive species.

The importance of the reserve as a safe haven for biodiversity has been confirmed with additional observations, on their properties, with camera traps, such important species as the Puma (Puma concolor) Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus) and one of the largest and least known of South American mammals, the Critically Endangered Colombian Tapir (Tapirus terrestris columbianus).

The ProAves foundation by running campaigns for environmental education and conservation as the main tool for the protection of threatened species and their habitats, has generated several conservation strategies complemented with research to protect the Blue-billed Curassow, it also has directly involved the community concerned in different areas where there are populations that, after more than 10 years of uninterrupted work, have achieved these concrete results.

Income and visits Contact Ecoturs: Carrera 20 No. 36 61, Bogotá, Colombia. Tels. (1) 245-5134, 340-3285. info@ecoturs.org 
Con el apoyo de

The Reciprocal Agreements for Water -ARAS- continue to promote the protection of the high Andean forests, watersheds and endangered species in the municipality of Jardín, Antioquia. The goal is to sign eight agreements with owners of significant water production for forested areas.

The year begins with the identification of the owners who are interested in signing ARAS, this is achieved through visits to each of the properties upstream strategically located in the villages of Quebrada Bonita and Herrera; also voluntary contribution receipts will be distributed and urns will be installed to start the collection of these contributions by the users of the water service in the town of Jardín, these resources will be used to encourage homeowners who signed up to maintain their properties.

The interagency committee called the ” Committee for the Conservation of High Andean Forests and Watersheds Jardín A. ” composed of officials from the Municipality, representatives of educational institutions , Boards of rural and urban community action, the water company Ingeniería Total, Jardín Environmental Table , representatives of Aqueducts Multiveredales and ProAves is responsible for promoting voluntary contributions from the community and to visit the properties for the characterization of biological significance for the conservation of water sources , implement the signatures of the ARAS for delivery of incentives and generate support among other entities to strengthen the process of compensation band the development of the Pride Campaign.

Visits to landlords and identification of strategic properties to sign the ARAS in Jardín and the first meeting of the Conservation Committee in 2014.

Parallel to these activities continuity will be given to strengthen the Pride Campaign through environmental workshops with owners and residents of the villages of the upper basin, spots and radio programs, ecological slots on television , community meetings in urban and rural areas with the community of Jardin, nature walks for the recognition of natural heritage and other cultural and educational outreach events to strengthen the spread of the ARAS project and the sense of ownership by the municipality for the conservation of the watersheds, the high Andean forests and endangered species such as the Yellow eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) EN and the Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) VU.

The support of institutions and organizations such as the Heritage Fund, The University of Antioquia, The water company Ingeniería Total, Jardín Public Enterprises, The Jardín City Hall, Corantioquia, National Police, District Integrated Management Cuchilla Jardín Támesis and Jardín Environmental Table have allowed the ARAS in Jardín to become a reality in 2014, for high basin owners who will benefit from the incentives and with their desire to protect are providing a better  quality of life to downstream users who receive fresh water and healthy forests for the preservation of many species.

Supported by:

Sharing ProAves’s Environmental Education Experience in Guanacaste Costa Rica

The Guanacaste Conservation Area in Costa Rica is considered one of the best examples of conservation in Latin America. The ProAves team visited it recently and received eight days of intensive training and exchanged lessons learned during their 15 years of doing conservation and educational work.

From November 16 to 23 Juan Carlos Rivas, Deputy Director of the Southwest Region, and Juliana Toro, Deputy Director of Environmental Education, visited the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Costa Rica, to attend a Biological Education Training Program.

The training focused on the program that, for the last 27 years, has developed and strengthened awareness of nature in children of school age living close to the conservation area, to promote appropriate attitudes about the use and conservation of natural resources.

The Biological Education Program differs from Environmental Education because it passes from basic natural concepts and campaigns to teaching biology and ecology in the field. They call it the Natural Library, in which children develop sensitivity and better criteria for environmental decision-making in the future. In contact with nature, they assimilate how nature works and is structured, and they learn all the processes that occur within it. It is a new process because it uses the forest as a laboratory classroom, the child learns through live action, he identifies with and understands the dynamics of an ecosystem.

      

      

     

     

“A child who has had a biological education will be in the future a citizen who has greater possibilities of acting correctly on the management of the environment, making more rational decisions on environmental issues and have greater capability in relation to the ordinary decisions of life” this is the program’s philosophy, according its Coordinator, Gabriela Gutierrez.

Guanacaste Conservation Area was established in 1994 and has 1,470 km ² of marine, dry, wet and cloud ecosystems. Because of its high biodiversity and special and unique connectivity, UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1999. Its size, diversity and location, both on the Atlantic and Pacific slopes, as well as the higher massifs of the Orosi and Cacao volcanoes, make the park a special place in biodiversity.

Within the research programs, entomological characterization is highlighted, cataloging more than 12,000 species of butterflies. Research into genetic improvement with native tree species led them to develop successful conservation programs such as reforestation for the recovery of dry forest that, years ago, was believed to have disappeare. As well as training and forest fire control brigades, all under the concept of bio-development hand in hand with the community, in order to make them a part of the conservation processes.

This is a great experience for Fundación ProAves and its Environmental Education area because, apart from learning the essence of the operation of the park, we learned that these processes are successful and durable. They promote values like perseverance, willingness, respect and a sense of belonging. For us the challenge is to articulate this strategy within our own Environmental Education processes, making them more experiential processes of unforgettable experiences for children, experiences that make the seed sown flourish into responsible adults, conscious of and advocates for our natural heritage.

We want to thank the entire team of the Guanacaste Conservation Area, in particular the Biological Education team, thank you for your attention and willingness to teach us another wonderful strategy to generate future conservationist spirits.

Biological Educators, who trained us:

Alban Jimenez

Rosibel Elizondo

Pablo Vásquez Badillo

Roberto Vargas Sanabria

Rolando Vega

Rolando Ramos

Gabriela Gutiérrez – Coordinator

Roger Blanco – Assistant Director of ACG

Maria Martha Chavarria – Biologist and researcher

Ruth Franco – Laboratory Coordinator BioLep

Petrona Rios – Parataxonomist

With the support of

Camera traps in the ProAves El Paujil Reserve captured a female Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos Ornatus) and her two cubs, a species that is categorized as Vulnerable (VU) according to IUCN. Its altitudinal elevation enhances the importance of this record, as it is perhaps the lowest recorded for the species.

ProAves Foundation implemented monitoring through photo trapping of fauna about four years ago as an innovative research strategy in protected areas.

This methodology involves the installation of automated devices such as camera traps, which allow logging 24 hours a day of all the movements and behavior of animals in a given area that is monitored; these devices once installed hold up to 5,000 photos on their memory cards.

During this research, we have managed to monitor the forests in 12 nature reserves, where we have managed to record 53 species of animals belonging to different orders. The record of 41 species of mammals stands out. We have found that this monitoring strategy is ideal for assessing the status of the populations of mammals present and protected in our system of protected areas.

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Likewise, we recorded the presence of this species in the high Andean ecosystems of the Municipalities of Roncesvalles and Cajamarca, in the department of Tolima, where ProAves is present in their system of protected areas. Additionally, we have established the most important records related to the altitudinal range, perhaps the lowest recorded for the species, in El Paujil bird reserve, in the middle Magdalena, an ecosystem that retains the last major remnants of tropical rainforest in this basin and where the presence and reproduction of the species is guaranteed.

In this reserve in the middle Magdalena, which is a priority ecosystem for conservation because of the advanced fragmentation and habitat destruction in this area of the Andes, a record also was achieved of the subspecies of the South American tapir (Tapirus Terrestris). This is an endangered species and rarely recorded in the wild and of which little is known about their population status.

Besides making continuous monitoring of the first primate species Ateles hybridus, the endangered Brown spider monkey, which approached an area biologically known as a salting area (saladero) and where different aspects of the intra-specific behavior of the species were obtained.

On the eastern plains, at the regional boundaries with the Colombia Amazon, a number of large mammals have been sighted like the Jaguar (Panthera onca), the Tapir (Tapirus terrestris), deer (Mazama Americana) and large groups of peccaries, or wild pigs. This demonstrates the ecological importance of this ecosystem heavily pressurized by the rapid exploitation of non-renewable natural resources in this area of the country and threatening ecological dynamics of species distributed in eastern Colombia.

Additionally, by analyzing images taken in these different areas of the country, it has been possible to establish the existence of different sub species of Mazama americana, which has allowed experts in this area to recognize the need for a thorough taxonomical review of the species.

The camera traps not only allowed us to obtain important records of mammals, thanks to its systematic installation and regular monitoring, it is possible to conduct ongoing monitoring of the Blue-billed Curassow (Crax Alberti), one of the most endangered species in the country. It has been monitored so that its recovery is evident in the Paujil Reserve, with over 150 photographic records that have identified new individuals added each year to the relict population that now shows a promising future.

This method therefore is a great tool for conservationists and research bodies in the country, allowing the study in the wild of cryptic or species shy to the observer and that can generate key information to the development of more specific future conservation plans.

A new bird in a family known as the “tapaculos” has been discovered in Colombia and described as “Scytalopus rodriguezi yariguiorum”.  It was originally discovered in montane forest which now forms part of Fundacion ProAves’ Cerulean Warbler reserve.

This finding was made during a ProAves-supported expedition in 2003 whose results also led to the protection of these forests.  Details of the discovery were only published in full this year, following completion and publication of a scientific paper describing the subspecies and including information about the new tapaculo’s morphology and vocalisations.  It occurs c.580 km distant from its closest relative, the Upper Magdalena Tapaculo of Huila, in its darker dorsal coloration, shorter tail, smaller body, lower mass and lower pitched song.

The new tapaculo is borderline as to its treatment as a species in its own right or as a subspecies of Upper Magdalena Tapaculo S. rodriguezi.  The nominate Upper Magdalena Tapaculo is restricted to mountains of Huila department.  The latter species was also discovered in 2003, but details of the finding were published much earlier, in 2005.  Both populations have tiny distributions and are considered threatened with extinction.  ProAves’ Cerulean Warbler reserve is of great importance for the protection of this new population and other bird species.

The description was published by ProAves consejo member Thomas Donegan, together with ornithologists Jorge Avendaño and Frank Lambert in Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, a leading international journal on avian taxonomy and distribution.

Video of Scytalopus rodriguezi in ibc.lynxeds.com recorded by Professor Cedric Prys-Roberts at the Cerulea Warbler Bird Reserve. The bird was seen in the forest on the side of the Camino Lengerke, in the Serrania de los Yariguies on February 22, 2012.

Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus is the 1900^th species for Colombia. Photo credits: Jesse Fagan

Buffy Helmetcrest Oxypogon stubelii is reclassified as a valid species that is endemic to Colombia.

Photo credits: W.P. Murdoch, Jr.

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Thirty nestboxes, with a new design, were installed in the El Dorado Bird Reserve. In just three days, the first individuals were recorded exploring the nestboxes, giving optimism for  a significant advance in the recovery of the species.

During the monitoring conducted in 2013 in the town of Roncesvalles, Tolima, a Yellow-eared parrot population of 1,408 individuals was recorded, 190 individuals more than in 2012,  a growth of 16 % since last year.

ProAves, the University of Antioquia, the Loro Parque Foundation and the Mayor of Jardín, in the department of Antioquia, seek to conserve the water that feeds the town of Jardín, through the implementation of the ARAS strategy, Reciprocal Agreements for Water.