Watch over a migrating bird in Central America!

Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to protect and study migratory birds on their Central American wintering ground. 

You helped us sustain vital efforts that included habitat protection, bird monitoring, and building awareness through citizen science. 

Habitat Protection

This wintering season community rangers protected birds at the following private reserves in Nicaragua: Mono Bayo Reserve, Quelantero Reserve, Guacamaya Reserve, Morgan's Rock Reserve, and Isla Vista Reserve. We are excited to also share that we have begun the process to purchase 100 acres of land in Eastern El Salvador to serve as a sanctuary for birds and wildlife. At this new property we sighted the pale-billed woodpecker, a large forest woodpecker only recently sighted in the area after one hundred years.

The dry season is always a precarious time for birds and wildlife because wildfires can ravage wintering habitats. Your support helps us to build fire breaks and extinquish small fires in Nicaragua and El Salvador. This year, our community rangers put out three fires in El Salvador. We feel relieved that there were not more fires given the El Nino climate pattern which generally leads to more intense drought.

Bird Monitoring

We conducted bird monthly monitoring at two bird-banding station through a methodology known as MoSI which helps researchers to understand wintering survival. We acptured 28 species of resident birds and 14 migratory species at the Mono Bayo Reserve station. A Northern Waterthrush that visited us in the 2020-2021 season once once again captured by our team. Similary, at the Quelantero station, we captured 25 resident birds and 15 migratory species. A yellow-throated vireo that was captured at this station in 2020-2021 non-breeding season was recaptured this year. We feel delighted when we encounter birds from prior years!  Birds of conservation concern encountered at these station include the indigo bunting, wood thrush, and the tropical royal flycatcher (resident). 

Citizen Science

We celebrated our the Christmas Bird Count on January 3rd. Data from this event are shared with the Audubon Society via their data platform and helps to inform science about long-term trends in bird populations. Forty-eight volunteers helped to identify 152 species of birds, and a total of 2665 individual birds. Follow the link in this report to watch a short video in Spanish about the day. 

Thank you again for your support for our bird conservation efforts!

Happy Birding!

Links:

• Video about our Christmas bird count (Spanish narration)