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Three’s a crowd

by Toa Kyle

I'm back for a quick stopover in town. Things are proceeding well in the field. We've now got three active nests and another five that are being guarded. Our first nest with chicks is one to remember. When I first climbed it to perform health checks for the nestlings I was surprised to find three nestlings there. As I mentioned before, one chick has been the norm the past two field seasons. Two of the chicks were in good shape. Their crops were full (indicating their parents were feeding them adequately) and they were full of energy. The third chick was basically being neglected by the parents. They weren't feeding it and it was pushed off to one side of the nest opposite the other chicks.



We kept this third chick alive for 3 days by first giving it Ringer's solution to prevent dehydration, then moving it onto formula in the hopes that the parents would accept it with time. Alas a cold front came in on the third night of our work with this nest and the following morning the chick was near death, shivering intensely and extremely weak. Although this is only one nest with this type of situation, similar observations of a neglected third chick will justify pulling this bird to raise in captivity for subsequent release. Wild Blue-throat chicks are too precious a commodity to leave for dead in the nest. On the bright side, the other two chicks are doing well. The first chick has already shot up to 200g (half a pound) at 10 days of age and the second isn't far behind.

Hopefully this particular nest will weather the coming storms. It's the worst nest (in terms of structure and strength) I've seen in four field seasons down here. Very fragile (another palm snag). Why exactly Blue-throats regularly nest in these types of low quality nests remains unclear. Hopefully with time they'll start using the nest boxes we put up in August. I'm afraid that most of the nesting pairs we've found had already committed to a nest tree by the time we got our boxes up. We haven't seen any interest from Blue-throats towards the boxes. Some boxes show bite marks on the edges though. Likely frustrated Blue-and-Gold Macaws that can't get inside! Predictably one of the nest boxes has been taken over by bees (my punishment for destroying a hive a few weeks back?). Maybe if the boxes don't produce any Blue-throat chicks this season we can at least get a couple of jars of good honey...

I'll head back to the field this weekend to work with two other nests we're keeping an eye on at 7 islas. I climbed the nest with three eggs (nest 27 from now on) expecting to find several chicks the other day and was disappointed to find that one of the eggs had hatched but no chick was present.



We don't know if the chick was predated or died shortly after hatching and was removed by the parents. There are still two eggs in the nest though and the female is actively incubating them. We've put a 12 hour watch on this nest should nest predators show up while chicks are hatching. I've seen Crane Hawks in this island before, so that's my first choice for a culprit. This raptor has long legs perfectly adapted to reaching into nests to grab small nestlings. That the nest was missing a chick but still had eggs is interesting. Crane Hawks eat nestlings but not eggs. Toucans eat both.




I won't celebrate any nests being active until the chicks get up to three weeks of age. By this time they're likely too large to be taken by either toucans or Crane Hawks. We'll still need to be concerned about Great-horned Owls and of course the ever present threat of humans robbing nests but I'll feel a lot better about a given nest once it gets over that three week hump. Another nest is incubating at 7 islas, a mere three km (two miles) from nest 27. For Blue-throats this is rare as active nests are usually highly dispersed (given their rarity). To work with two nests this close together bodes well for us. Easier for us to monitor (and more importantly, protect from predators). The next three weeks will determine how these particular nests fair. Keep your fingers crossed for the birds (they need it).

Posted by Toa Kyle on 09/28 at 11:25 AM
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First active nest

by Toa Kyle

Good news. We've got our first active nests of the season already. One is a palm snag I climbed the other day to put in a drain hole. The nest has an open crown (ie. no roof) and is thus prone to flooding. Last year we lost at least three nests due to flooding during the incubation stage so this year we're determined to get drain holes in right away. To back up these fears it rained three hours after we put the drain hole in! This particular nest has three eggs in it, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for at least two chicks. There's another two nests being guarded in this area (we call it 7 islas for the number of motacu islands found there), so hopefully with more time at least one more will become active. Logistics will be tricky at 7 islas because there is absolutely no water around. We've stocked up on drinking water and have set up a camp site with a tarp to collect rain water (when and if it comes). In the meantime everyone smells bad from lack of bathing.

I finally got rid of the bees from a 2005 nest tree. We ended up using a pesticide spray to take care of business (the spray is harmless to vertebrates). It was amazing to see how extensive the hive was. It extended up the tree cavity for at least a meter (3 feet). I removed every last bit of it to ensure the queen bee wasn't hiding anywhere. We saw a Blue-throat pair perched in the crown of this tree a few days later. Maybe I'm projecting but I swear they were trying to coax the other one into checking out the cavity first.

Tomorrow I'm rushing into the field to visit another field site that has a nest with at least two chicks in it. Exciting news as we've only had nests with single chicks to work with in previous seasons. As I said before, this project is all about getting more Blue-throated chicks into the wild.

Posted by Toa Kyle on 09/13 at 11:17 AM
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Killer bees

by Toa Kyle

Back from my first stint in the field getting things set up for the coming months. We set up six nest boxes, mainly choosing forest islands where nests failed last year (due mostly to low quality nests in those areas). Now the waiting game begins. Will any of these boxes have Blue-throat chicks in them in 4 months (or will they be used by smaller, non-target species)? We'll be keeping an eye on the boxes will continue to search for nests in tree cavities.

One of the disappointing things I observed last week was the loss of three hardwood nesting trees from past seasons. Hardwood trees are generally better nests as then motacu snags as they are stronger (i.e. don't easily fall over), less prone to flooding and can last for many subsequent nesting seasons. We may have lost at least three hardwood nests already. One the afternoon we arrived to our field camp I saw one of the nesting pairs from last year fly to the crown from last season and call loudly. Good news, I thought, we've already got one nest being guarded. Alas the next morning on closer inspection I realized the nest cavity at this tree had been taken over by Africanized bees. We tried on three occasions to get rid of them (to often comical effect as we tried one failed method after another to get them out). Final score; Bees: 3, Humans: 0. Admittedly we weren't adequately equipped to deal with bee removal. We improvised bee suits with motorcycle helmets, duck-taping as best we could any gaps between clothing.



They found their way in to sting us anyways, the worst being when they got into the helmet. One could only wait for the thing to land somewhere on your face and deliver the venom. On a positive note, the stings became less painful with each successive dosage. I have a new found respect for bees (but am determined to get rid of them my next trip out there in a week's time!).

The other two hardwood tree nests suffered from new large holes located above the nest cavity. Not good to keep torrential rain out. I'm not sure if woodpeckers expanded these holes or the trees are getting old and worn down. Blue-throat pairs may still use these nests later on but we've seen in the past that nests with open crowns are lousy nests. Easy to predate and flood prone (even with drain holes drilled at the base of the nest). I need to devise a way to cover up these holes while maintaining a natural appearance to the nests. I've got a recipe for sawdust, cement and wood glue that may just work. Call it nest reconstruction if you will.

I didn't see as many Blue-throats as I'd have liked this past trip but one week isn't really sufficient to get a feel for who many birds are out there. I visited one roost we know of and was disappointed to see only one pair of Blue-throats there (we saw 3 pairs there in late 2005). It's a really special place this roost. Located in a 3ha forest island, over one hundred Blue-fronted Amazons sleep there too, including around 20 Blue and Gold Macaw, four Green-winged Macaw and a host of other birds including herons, ibis and toucans. Curiously we ended up seeing another two pairs in the area the next morning that didn't use the roost the previous night. We're still a long way from understanding how habitat use varies over time for Blue-throats, as birds are absent from one area at certain times of the year, only to show up later on in our study season.

I'm leaving tomorrow to set up the second of the three field camps for this season. We didn't have any luck with nesting success in this area last year (though there were several nesting attempts that didn't pan out). I'm optimistic that we can turn things around there this time around.

Posted by Toa Kyle on 08/20 at 08:05 PM
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Start of the new field season

by Toa Kyle

Trinidad, Beni, Bolivia

Welcome to a running diary I'll be keeping this field season for the World Parrot Trust Blue-throated Macaw nesting study. This species has the unenviable distinction of being the most endangered macaw in the wild. If you want to get some background on Blue-throats you can read more at these links (http://ee.parrots.org/pdfs/our_publications/psittascene/excerpts/blue_throated_macaw/PS_17_1_Feb05_JTJ.pdf). With luck we'll begin field activities tomorrow. I say with luck because organizing logistics in Bolivia never comes easy. I have to remind myself to add a day or two to my original departure date, anticipating delays and unexpected surprises. Today I'm keeping my fingers crossed diesel will arrive in town, as well as the 12m ladder I bought last week in Santa Cruz (but has yet to materialize via the transport company I left it with).

I'm looking forward to this coming season to make amends for last season which was full of disappointments. The success of this project is measured in the amount of Blue-throat chicks entering the wild population each year. In 2005, five of the six active nests we had failed in the late stages of incubation. Six nests may seem like an extremely low number of nests to find but given the rarity of the species it's a decent number to work with (we know of around only 80 birds where we work).

Of the nests that failed, some were flooded due to heavy rainfall, some predated by toucans. We also observed that most of the nests were of low quality, being found in motacu palm snags ("snag"=dead tree). This type of nest is difficult to work with from a management perspective as they're harder to climb (no branches to swing climbing ropes over) and can even fall over due to strong winds. In an attempt to provide the birds with alternatives to motacu snags we've designed some wooden nest boxes we'll be putting up this month. We've cut the entrance holes so they'll allow Blue-throats to enter but exclude the larger and more numerous Blue and Gold Macaws. We've seen in past breeding seasons that Blue and Golds will take over nest sites being guarded by Blue-throats.

Anticipating toucan predation we also inclined the entrance to the nests 45 degrees (I'll be attaching photos directly below relavent text in these blogs).



Toucans have weak perching feet (unlike macaws) and will be unable to perch at the entrance of the nest box and climb in at an angle (we hope!). Whether or not Blue-throats will take to these nest boxes remains to be seen. Previous studies with other parrot species have had mixed results with nest boxes. A colleague of mine told me that in Mauritius they used almost 100 different models of nest boxes before the birds finally accepted one. As much as I hope Blue-throated Macaws will rush to nest in our boxes, my feet are firmly planted on the ground. For now I'll be content if one of 15 boxes is used. Best to aim low for starters.

I also am curious to see how the severe drought last year affects nesting attempts this year. In general, fruit production (and Blue-throats are fruit eaters, not seed predators) is lower the year after a drought. This in turn can decrease the number of nesting attempts as scarcer food resources leaves few nesting pairs capable of raising young. It'll be interesting to see how the number of nesting attempts for 2006 compares to past seasons. Stay tuned for updates from the field...

Posted by Toa Kyle on 08/11 at 07:59 PM
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