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Goliath and Manu

by Sarah Faegre

I finally meet Goliath and Manu, 2 beautiful Barba Azul (Blue-throated Macaw) chicks who I will be looking out for.

November 17th - The big Barba Azul chicks of Isla 2, named Manu and Goliath, are so beautiful! Today was my first time to see large Barba Azul chicks, all feathered out and looking like actual parrots. They are so different from the tiny, two-week-old Isla Grande chick (near the estancia 10 km away), which looks like an empanada with wings. Manu and Goliath are about 2 months old, (Goliath is slightly older) and this leaves them with about one more month in the nest before they should fledge. I don’t think anyone in the history of this project has been able to see a Barba Azul chick fledge…it is my biggest hope that I might witness this amazing event.

In the afternoon Sarah D. and I hiked to the island, Vaca Muerta to check out the activity of a pair of BTMs who have been hanging around their nest cavity since their first attempt failed due to flooding in August. I climbed the tree and looked into the nest cavity—there, on the woodchips of the cavity floor was a macaw egg! Thrilled and with high hopes, Sarah and I hid ourselves about 50 meters from the nest, and waited to see who the parents of this egg might be. Shortly, a pair of white-eyed conures (Aratinga leucopthalmus) came by and one perched at the cavity entrance. We watched with curiosity as the conure peered inside the cavity. I knew the egg wasn’t theirs—it was far too big—but I didn’t know if the conures would have enough interest in the cavity to pose a risk to the potential BTM (Blue-throated Macaw) egg. Luckily, the conures seemed content to look only and did not enter the cavity. We waited and waited, wondering “where could they be?” and finally, at 5:15 pm a pair of Barba Azul flew in. One of them landed at the nest cavity and looked in. Sarah and I snuck off the island, leaving the couple to their parenting work in their improved, flood-proof nest hole.



25 November 2007

I have been here for ten days now, on this little forest island, where myself and one other volunteer are charged with the care of two Blue-throated Macaw nests. Our two nests are at opposite ends of the spectrum in their timing—the Isla 2 nest has Goliath and Manu, who will fledge in about a month, while the Vaca Muerta nest has three newly laid eggs. If all goes well, these eggs should hatch around the same time as Goliath and Manu leave their nest. The Vaca Muerta nest is so named because it is located on an island that was discovered with a freshly dead cow (vaca muerta = dead cow). Vaca Muerta is a half-hour walk from our camp at Isla Chiquita, while the Isla 2 nest is only a 5 minute walk, on an adjoining island.

Our work consists mainly of morning and afternoon shifts, watching the nest cavities from blinds, to ensure that these valuable nests are not predated, and to watch for unusual behavior in the adults that might indicate a problem. The Vaca Muerta nest is actually a second attempt by this pair, after their first clutch of eggs failed due to flooding in August. Now that they’ve re-laid and are incubating, San Pedro, the patron saint of rain and bad weather, is beginning to show his strength. The newly added drain holes, drilled through the bottom of the cavity after the August flood, will certainly be put to the test. As of this evening, the female is in her nest, incubating, while San Pedro tips it down all around her.

I had hoped that being flooded out of my tent while completely isolated from any “civilized” comforts would be an experience unique to my previous work with the Blue-fronted Parrots in Argentina, but clearly this is not to be. I will move my tent to higher ground and use the machete to dig canals around the border, since we don’t have a shovel. The water is soaking through my thermarest pad right now, as I sit here writing, and I don’t know how much luck I will have trying to sleep on it tonight. Perhaps I would be better off in the hammock…if it would stop raining. Well, at least it’s not cold. Being wet for one night is nothing but a slight annoyance as long as I’m warm enough. I am more worried about the parrot chicks than I am about my sleeping arrangements. Poor Goliath and Manu…I hope they’re not too wet. I hope their parents are keeping their crops nice and full. I am more worried than usual about these two chicks because Goliath has gotten very thin in the past few weeks, and because when I did the evening shift at their nest today their parents did not make an appearance. Tomorrow we will climb the tree to check on them and if Goliath has not gained weight we will start to give supplemental feedings.

This little camp is certainly an amazing place for wildlife viewing. I almost tripped over a Tamadua today (a small, arboreal anteater) while walking through the tall grass next to the island, and I recently found out that the strange cow-like grunting noises I often hear at night actually might be jaguars! Other permanent residents to Isla Chiquita (aside from ourselves) are an armadillo named Changuito, an arboreal porcupine called Puerquito, a pair of aplomado falcons named Ruben and Madidi, and a troop of black howler monkeys that roam through the treetops between Isla Chiquita and Isla 2.

Posted by Sarah Faegre on 11/25 at 10:01 PM
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By Plane, Horse, and Ox cart

by Sarah Faegre

Ten days after leaving home I arrive at our camp on a tiny, forested island in the Llanos de Moxos savannahs of Bolivia. I awake to the sound of Blue-throated Macaws

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November 16, 2007

Six planes, one oxen-pulled cart and one horse later I am finally at the campamento, “Isla Chiquita” which will be my home for the next month, or until the last barba azul (Blue-throated Macaw) chick fledges. It has taken ten days to arrive here, since leaving my home in Portland, Oregon and it is with great happiness and relief that I can finally settle into my new home and keep my tent in the same spot for long enough to organize my stuff.

The island is amazing—there are so many animals! The islands here, in the Bolivian lowlands, are not islands in the typical sense, but rather isolated clumps of forest in a vast, seasonally flooded savannah. Now, at the very beginning of the rainy season, the ground is still mostly dry and while there are some deeper, swampy areas, none of the “islands” that I speak of are surrounded by water. Isla Chiquita is the first island in a chain of seven which makes up the 7-isla study area. We have no electricity or facilities of any kind. It is just me and my co-worker, also named Sarah, with our tents and a camp stove, living in the forest.

Isla Chiquita, meaning tiny island, is well-named and a perfect size for our camp. It is small enough that I can’t get lost, but large enough that I am sharing it with a troop of black howler monkeys, an armadillo that walks around camp like a dog, an arboreal porcupine with a prehensile tail, a pair of aplomado falcons and many other animals that I have yet to become acquainted with. All of these animals I met on my first evening and night at the camp. As I lie here in my tent, writing, the porcupine is climbing through the canopy, gnawing on Motacu palm fruits (also the favorite food of the barba azul) and dropping the husks and bits of wood around my tent. I hear wing beats swoosh through camp as the huge bats weave through the palms, buzzing my tent. Frogs and crickets sing and chirp. A bird calls. An unknown night animal is grunting and snorting from the savannah at the edge of the island. What more could I ask for?

Tomorrow morning we will climb the nest on Isla 2 and I will get to meet the two Blue-throated Macaw chicks who I will be caring for from now until fledging.

Posted by Sarah Faegre on 11/16 at 09:37 PM
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Gathering Supplies in Trinidad, Bolivia

by Sarah Faegre

My last night in civilization for the next 2.5 months and I am ready to go!

I have been in Trinidad, Bolivia for three days now, gathering and organizing field supplies for the next month with Carmen and Carlos and resting up in the Hostal Las Palmas. Carmen, a young woman from Chile, is one of the project field assistants and is completing her second season with the Blue-throated Macaws. Carlos, a Bolivian volunteer, arrived about a month ago. The three of us will be leaving for the field tomorrow.

The weather here in Trinidad is hot and humid. This morning it was clear, but dark clouds gathered quickly and finally broke open into a torrential downpour around noon. The rain is pounding down around us at this moment, threatening to flood the hotel….so much like some of my experiences working in Chaco. But here, in the Beni, rain is much more frequent than the “Dry Chaco” of Argentina and all the city streets are lined with deep canals. In my room I have a thermos lid and soap dish set out under the two biggest leaks from the ceiling.

I am very excited to get out into the field…to live in my tent again and be surrounded by savannahs, forest islands, and best of all, parrots. I will begin my work in the “campamento”, which is accessible only by horse (and an inner tube crossing at the river) from the main camp at the estancia. At the campamento I will be living and working with a Canadian volunteer, also named Sarah. There is one active nest in the area, which we will observe from the blind, and will also climb regularly to check the health of the two chicks in the nest cavity. Our other work will be exploring nearby forest islands to observe the activities of other macaws and parrots, and if we are very lucky, perhaps we will find a new Blue-throat nest.

The campamento sounds amazing. Aside from the macaws and parrots, there are anteaters, peccary, ocelots, yaguarundi, armadillo, yabiru storks, and even the occasional jaguar or rare-maned wolf! If all goes as planned and the landing strip at the estancia is not flooded after this rain, we will pack all of our stuff into a little Cessna tomorrow and head out into the field. At the camp there is no electricity, no phone and no mail. Our only communication with the outside world will be through a radio, charged by a battery, which can be used in emergency or to coordinate activities between camps.

While this isolation is part of my attraction to this work, it also means that I will not be able to send e-mail updates (or update my World Parrot Trust blog) at all while I am in the field. If at all possible, I will send a handwritten report out with Igor when he leaves before Christmas, which he can type up and send out as an e-mail. Except for the pre-Christmas report, which I hope to send with Igor, I will be entirely out of contact and unreachable until the end of January or early February, when I leave the field.

I will continue writing reports by hand in the field, and will have many stories and photos to share upon my return to civilization. To close this e-mail, I will tell a funny story about a miscommunication that occurred due to my “Gaucho” Argentinean Spanish.

Carlos and I were walking down the streets of Trinidad and discussing mate, (which I a managed to fine here in Trinidad and am happily drinking twice per day since my arrival). I told him that I need to find a thermos but that I did bring a tea kettle with me from the United States. The word in Argentina for kettle is “pava”, and while I know it may seem a little strange that I am traveling with a tea kettle, Carlos seemed inordinately shocked by this. “Una pava!?” he exclaimed. “Viva?”

“Of course,” I said, understanding “viva” to mean that is was a functional tea kettle. “I bought it just before I left. It’s very small,” I said, demonstrating its 8-ounce capacity with my hands.

“But they didn’t have a problem with it at the airport?” he asked.

“No, of course not. Why would they care? It was in my checked baggage anyways,” I replied.

“Are you sure you’re not joking?” he asked. “But why would you bring a pava? And where is it?”

“It’s in my backpack, in my room,” I said. “I can show you later.”

And so went our discussion, on and on, until somehow I discovered that he thought I was talking about a turkey. “Pavo” is the word I know for turkey and I guess here in Bolivia, “pava” is a female turkey, not a tea kettle.

“I thought maybe you wanted to eat turkey for Christmas…” Carlos told me later.

Posted by Sarah Faegre on 11/11 at 06:07 PM
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Welcome to my 2007 Blue-throated Macaw blog

by Sarah Faegre

Getting ready to leave for my adventures with Bolivia's Blue-throated Macaws

I am now only two days away from my next adventure: Working with the critically endangered Blue-throated Macaw in the remote “llanos de Moxos” savannahs of eastern Bolivia. This long-term conservation effort has been in the works for six years, led by the World Parrot Trust and their associates. Some of you may have followed Toa Kyle’s articles and blogs in the past, and I intend to continue his efforts with this 2007 Blue-throat blog.

This year, Igor Berkusnky (with whom I have previously worked on Blue-fronted Amazons in Argentina) is leading the field work with this Bolivian macaw. Igor has been on site in Bolivia since August and has reported to me that the 2007 field season is shaping up to be a huge success. He currently has a crew of 12 biologists from around the world (one Peruvian, one Chilean, one Colombian, three Bolivians, one Argentinean, two Americans, one Canadian, and two New Zealanders). There are two main camps and I will be stationed at the main camp, which has 4 active Blue-throated Macaw nests. Much of our “getting around” will be on horseback, which will be wonderful for me, as I haven’t ridden much since my 3-month internship at an estancia in Argentina in 2004. It will be good to get back in the saddle…literally, but also in respect to my work with parrots.

So, I now look forward to the immense chore of last-minute packing, which includes 15 lbs. of baby-parrot food, 3 scales, several cameras, a computer and a “data tank” for the project. I hope that my efforts will be of some help to the 80-100 Blue-throats that survive in the wild. I also hope that Toa’s statement that a “Civil war is not out of the realm of possibilities...” (From his most recent Blue-throat article for Psittacine) does not prove to be an issue.

I will report on my adventures with Bolivia’s Blue-throated Macaws as often as internet access allows and I hope that my descriptions and stories will prove interesting, useful and entertaining. I welcome all comments or questions.

Posted by Sarah Faegre on 11/03 at 03:50 PM
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