| |
NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
Escazu, San Jose, Costa Rica, 2019/04/04 - Conservationists and volunteers fan out this weekend to “hotspots” of the Great Green Macaw in northern Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua for the first bi-national count of this endangered species in 10 years.
|
| |
Scientific estimates, outdated but still in use, put the number of Great Greens at 1,500 worldwide.
Three conservation groups -- Macaw Recovery Network and Centro Científico Tropical, both in Costa Rica, and Fundación del Rio in Nicaragua have joined forces to conduct counts, beginning this year. They want to better understand the macaw’s status in the wild and whether efforts to save the bird are making a difference against the illegal pet trade and large-scale deforestation that have ravaged its population.
The partnership is coordinating 65 volunteers in a count this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 37 sites where Great Greens are known to frequent. The partners will continue counts every year, twice a year, during the breeding and the nonbreeding season and will add partners to the project to eventually include counts in the four other countries where the macaws are found, Honduras, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador.
Data collected over several years is expected to show a trend in the Great Green population, information that will help direct conservation practices.
Jack Haines of the Macaw Recovery Network says others interested in participating this weekend or in future counts are welcome. They can count the macaws from wherever they are if in Great Green Macaw habitat, he says. For instructions, email the Network at info[.]macawrecoverynetwork.org. Or for more information, call +506 8489 4707.
|
sarah[.]macawrecoverynetwork.org 
