Parrot Blogger - Sam Williams
– About Sam –
Sam received support from the World Parrot Trust to research the Yellow-Shouldered Amazons on Bonaire.
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July 30 2007
Highs and lows the season continues
by Sam Williams
Watching wild parrot chicks develop is such a privilege and can be a lot of fun too. Parrot nests do get predated though and loosing chicks can be heartbreaking. In the last couple of weeks we have seen a lot of nest failures and it's been a hard time here on Bonaire. Overall the nests we monitored in 2006 generally experienced remarkably high reproductive success. This year we've been able to find and follow more nests due to the help of project volunteers but overall the success rate we've seen has dropped. The interesting thing is the new nest we've found are the ones that have suffered. Maybe our sample from last year was a bit biased and it's just that those particular pairs have the best nests or some other quality that gives them the upper hand. The dreaded data analysis that will take place through the British winter may reveal what it is....
Ben Hatchwell one of our supervisors has been out for a visit to see what we are up to and give us some suggestions. It seems he brought the British weather with him as on the morning Rowan took him out to observe the parrot pairs there was a huge downpour, the kind that happens only once or twice a year here. We are so lucky really as we hardly ever have adverse weather. It was nice for us to be able to show Ben the situation here. Some things about Bonaire make research a treat, the climate, the low vegetation, the community support for example. Other details, however, make it difficult and these include the spikeyness of the vegetation, the distance between nests and nest access.
Reading over what I've written I realise I'm full of mixed emotions for my work and I think this is pretty typical of an intense field season. A morning of nest checks may have you riding on high as you check over some cute parrot chicks at one nest, swiftly followed by a real low when you discover all the chicks from the next nest are gone without trace. The whole experience is something very special and as I said at the start, it is a real privelege. It's great to be doing what I do and to be here on Bonaire.
Oh and in response to Cristiana's comment....
I am as amazed as you are at how they manage to land and climb around on the cacti!!! My guess is that relatively the cacti spines are big enough for the parrots to climb around on. I've actually just put some video on ParrotWatch.org of a parrot sat nest to two parakeets on a cacti. I hope you'll like it.
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June 22 2007
PARROT CHICKS EVERYWHERE!
by Sam Williams
It’s all go in world of Bonaire’s loras. Chicks are hatching out from their eggs and the parrot team have been rushing around trying to work out who is hatching on which days. With the help of project volunteers we found lots of new tree nests but many of them are difficult to see into. We are however, persistent and ingenious (even if I do say so myself!), and by using one of our fancy “night vision” cameras on the end of a pole we can see what is going on deep inside the cavity.
Part of the parrot team’s work involves visiting nests to weigh and measure the chicks and generally record how they are developing. At this point the female stays in the nest and broods the chicks. When we wish to check the chicks we have to be in the area before dawn and then wait patiently for the male to arrive. He then calls to Mrs Parrot, who is dependant on him for food. She will leave the nest and that’s when we spring into action. Temporarily removing chicks to conduct a nest inspection might only involve walking to a tree and putting your arm in a hole. It could however involve abseiling (rappelling) off a 40meter (120foot) cliff, contorting your body into a odd position and using a ladle to extract the chicks.
Olivia our parrotwatch.org superstar is now busy with four chicks. Being able to see what goes on inside the nests is amazing and we even have a movie showing the second chick hatching. One of the parrot team field assistants suggested the chicks were ugly, but dear reader do not be fooled for this is certainly not the case! At this age baby parrots are beautiful tiny pink bundles of joy. Their eyes and ears are not open and they are have only a few wisps of white down on their bodies. One chick that was checked recently weighed only 17grams, that’s barely more than a wet tea bag! It is amazing to think that in two months this “tiny pink bundle of joy” will be a colourful and parrot about to fly from the nest into the big wide world.
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May 12 2007
THERES EGGS!
by Sam Williams
Finally they've had some eggs!! We were getting worried the birds would forgo breeding all together this year. There are now a few pairs with eggs but so far the ones that have started breeding are new to us and those we know from last year have not done anything. We have to thank the parrot teams efforts and their success in finding more nests for these new discoveries.
We are checking different nests every day but we keep being disappointed. It's already later than last year but it seems things are slow to get started. It'll really change things for us if they don't breed at all so keep your fingers crossed!!!
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April 28 2007
Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival
by Sam Williams
The CEB festival runs from Earth day on April 22nd until May 22nd Migratory bird day and 13 Caribbean islands currently take part. Groups on these islands hold events which basically encourage people to be aware of how special and important the Caribbean is as a biodiversity hotspot.
As Rowan and I didn't think we'd be busy enough with our research work and managing a team of 8 volunteers we decided we should try and get Bonaire involved too. Technically Bonaire has only one endemic bird, the subspecies of Brown-throated Conure. It is possibly one of the commonest birds on the island but we didn't think these details were any reason not to be involved!!! Rather we thought it would be a good opportunity to shout some more about the lora (the amazon parrot's local name).
We've organised a bunch of events including talks, parrot watching trips for school children. Parrot nest finding and an oriole count (a beautiful yellow bird) and hopefully it'll all go to plan! We have produced posters for the whole event and for the talks and thanks to a journalist who believes in what we are doing we will be getting plenty o f air time on the local radio station.
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