Watch over a migrating bird in Central America!

Your generosity helps us to protect birds and their habitats so that migratory birds can return to their nesting areas in North America. Thank you. 

Over the past four months, your support enabled us to visit three separate wetland sites in the dry forests of Eastern El Salvador on a monthly basis. There, we registered 45 willow flycatchers observations, including 8 individual birds at one site. In addition, dozens of migratory and resident species were documented such as the painted bunting, western tanager, yellow warbler, and scissort-tail flycather. To protect habitats at these wetlands, we work with local fisherman to clean-up abandoned fishing gear, and to clear fields and plant their first crop of the season in late April after birds like flycatchers have departed for the north. 

In Nicaragua, you helped us survey migratory birds during two months at our MoSI banding stations. We hope to restart these stations in the fall given that over the decade that we have run them, we have collected valuable data about population trends in migratory birds. Two of the photos here are of resident birds netted at the MoSI station. The MoSI data is complex and it gets pools with data from stations across the region by scientists at the Intsitute for Bird Populations. However, we perceive a decline in forest species like painted buntings and this is concerning. It reminds us that your support for our forest protection work at Mono Bayo Reserve is especially vital. 

Your support also add to support provided by Southern Wings, and enables us to increase and expand our monitoring of birds through the MOTUS network, a series of radio-signal receiving stations that can receive signals from radio-tagged birds. With in-country partners, we plant to install five of them in El Salvador (2), Honduras (1), and Guatemala (2) this spring. 

Finally, we are excited to share that a project is underway to document King Vultures, and their habitat areas in Nicaragua and El Salvador. These are the largest vultures of Central America, and their health and survival is so important for the ecosystem. This project is supported by the Tracy Aviary, and also through your generous support of our birding staff. 

Thank you for your continued support and for caring about what happens to the birds.