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Not a parrot in sight.

by Sam Williams

Writing up your PhD is an all encompassing task that leaves you with almost no spare time to do anything remotely fun. It is incredible that the intensity of work can reach this high and that deadlines can appear so frequently. This is one of the reasons I've not posted for so long, The other is that as I am not in the field I am seldom experiencing the kind of moments I can write about to make parrot work seem glamorous and enviable! What is remarkable though, is that I am not actually hating this part of parrot research as I, and everyone who knows me probably thought I would.

It is fair to say that I'm the kind of person that likes adventure. I do extreme sports and activities, and I love to feeling of pushing my own boundaries. Until this blasted PhD sapped my energy I could barely sit still, or is that age catching up? So how on earth can I be satisfied with sitting in an office crouching over a laptop looking at rows and rows of numbers?

I think it is because after those three arduous (yet glamourous and enviable!) field seasons this number crunching and analysis is really bringing it all together. It doesn't matter that I am having to learn to use a horrid statistics package, nor that my posture is so bad I have neck pain, nor that I wake up at stupid o'clock unable to go back to sleep because maybe if I excluded the nests found with chicks from the analysis I might find the truth!

So it is coming together but what does that mean? Well so far it means I've been able to sort out all the data on reproductive success and see what patterns are there. Compared to other Amazons those on Bonaire are doing ok but not great. I'm not going to even begin to explain that here, I'll leave it as a cliff hanger until a future PsttaScene article appears!

Next up I will be looking at the factors that affect reproductive success, do pairs in "good habitat" areas do better than those in poor habitat areas? Do pairs using tree nests produce more chicks than pairs using cliff nests? Do pairs in areas where there are several nests do better than pairs with isolated pairs? The list goes on, as indeed does time and so I really ought to go and get back to those stats.....

Posted by Sam Williams on 02/20 at 11:19 AM
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Emotional turmoil

by Sam Williams

What a busy and emotional few weeks it has been for the parrot team! Right now 7 chicks have fledged. In the nests that we are monitoring a further 14 grumpy chicks are getting ready to go. About two weeks prior to fledging the chicks actually weigh more than their parents but then they loose weight as the parents basically starve them in order to leave their cosy nests and jump into the big wide world. So when we go to conduct a nest inspection the chicks are more cantankerous than ever.



We were really happy because the number of nest we are monitoring has gone up as we found a couple more nests sites while out working. Rowan actually got suspicious of some parrots while out running and with a minor diversion added another nest to the list. The parrot team’s work never stops!

Yet more parrot chicks have been lost but the relatively good news is that this was not due to people stealing them from their nest. The sad news comes from a cliff nest high up on a 20m rock wall. This is always an exciting nest to inspect. You would have to hang on the rope with a good 12-14m of air below you while you checked the progress inside the dark cavity. Rowan and Rhian had noticed an increasing number of bees visiting the nest over the previous week and so when it came to be my turn to check the nest it was with great trepidation that I descended down the cliff.

The honey bees we find around the cliffs are not native to Bonaire, they are introduced from Europe. Thankfully they are not the aggressive Africanised bee. This was little consolation when as soon as I saw the nest entrance I could see plenty of bees. I approached slowly but as I drew closer the bees were clearly getting upset. We know these cues pretty well by now and the parrot team have had more than their share of stings. Being stuck on a rope is not a nice feeling when bees starting bumping into your head, to suggest you leave the area.

I was desperate to find out if the chicks were still alive although I knew there was little I could do to help them. The bees were getting agitated and so I just released my descending device fully and instantly dropped down the rope, my heart in my mouth. All I saw as I plummeted past the nest were two parrot chicks lying face down, dead.

The bees flared up but luckily for me they drew off their chase about 3 meters from the ground and I escaped without a single sting. That was little comfort for the loss of parrot chicks that were otherwise going to fledge within a week. We had known them since they were eggs. We had delicately handled and measured them since they were pink bundles of joy weighing little more than a £2 coin. It was heart breaking and we were not even the parents.

Posted by Sam Williams on 08/02 at 04:24 PM
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Another parrot egg, or not.

by Sam Williams

I am afraid, dear reader, that I have neglected you and now we have so much to discuss!
Some of the parrots simply didn't bother to breed this year and others were a trifle devious and moved from the cavity we knew to another one around the corner. That in itself might not seem a bother but it might take a couple of mornings doing observations for us to work it out. Once we did work out who was where and who wasn't, we were then busy trying to get around all these nests to find out which egg was laid when, or when not.

A typical nest inspection morning would go like this. Wake up at 0430 and have a cup of tea (the parrot team are very British in this respect and have in fact imported over 1000 "proper" tea bags from the UK to last the season, but we've nearly run out - eeek!), eat breakfast and grunt at one another. Drive to a nest site (15 to 30 minutes). In the dark we'll walk through the bush, avoiding cacti by head torch, maybe climbing up a small cliff, cross perilous rocky ground and arrive at a suitably uncomfortable place to sit and wait for the parrots.



Sometime between 0550 and 0830 the male will arrive in the area and call to the female. She will have slept in the cavity and will not left without hearing his lovely voice. The moment she leaves the nest we spring into action, set up the rope and abseil to the nest. When we are trying to get lay dates all that is required for a nest inspection is to take a picture of inside the nest. Some of the cliff nests are pretty deep though and that might mean having your whole arm up to your arm pit in the nest.

It might take several attempts to get the picture but once you see what's there, and acknowledge Mr and Mrs Parrot (who are telling you what they think of you) you get out of the way. That involves climbing back up the rope as quick as you can. Next pack up the climbing gear and run back over the jagged rocks out of the way so that Mrs Parrot can get back to business. Phew!



So the picture may reveal new eggs or not, both of which helps us work out when eggs are laid. It's not quite as simple as a breeder opening a nest box inspection door but the principle is the same.

Unfortunately many pictures revealed what we like least, mortality. The first eggs of several nests were cracked. We can't be sure exactly what caused the damage but it could be rats, cats, competing parrots or even the parents themselves being clumbsy. This year we, or rather, the parrots, had several damaged first eggs. Many of the pairs continued in their efforts and went on to complete a clutch of eggs. Some, however, simply gave up at the first hurdle and didn't bother to breed at all this year. If that's all it takes to put them off it's pretty scary. We'll need to fix that in the future.

Well this "little" entry has required more words than I anticipated so I shall not write about the wonderful tiny pink bundles of joy now! I'll save that and some cute pictures for my next post.

Posted by Sam Williams on 07/11 at 03:44 PM
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Parrot advocacy and eggs!

by Sam Williams

Where does the time go! Many parrots are on eggs now and I haven't even reported on my pre season plans as I promised in my last entry. So let's do this in chronological order.

What is it like to be back on Bonaire for my third full field season? Well of course it's fantastic. Bonaire feels like home and having wild parrots in the garden is simply the way it should be. There was a lot of organising in the first month. Permission requests for this and that and a lot of admin. I don't mind getting this stuff organised but it does limit the time it's possible to spend in the field. Adjusting to early starts was harder this time but my body clock has accepted it now.

Pre season plans. Well I've been building nest boxes because I want to see whether the birds are limited by the number of natural cavities. The problem with this is they are unlikely to use the boxes within the timescale of this research project and if they don't use them it doesn't actually mean the are not limited. It could just be that they don't like the design or the positioning. Rowan arrived and we made a few more preparations like improving access to some nest and putting the camera in Oliva's nest again. So check out www.parrotwatch.org to see what's going on in there.





Parrot advocacy! We are very much involved with Salba Nos Lora (Save our parrot) an NGO here on Bonaire. And we had a hectic couple of weeks in which we held an art competition, exhibition and auction. I am pleased to say UK Parrot Society is supporting SNL for this parrot awareness through art other campaign work. Somehow it all came together and it was a great way to raise awareness and over 1400 guilders (£400). The winning art from the competition will now somehow be merged together to create a new campaign poster highlighting the parrot's protected status.

And so to the present and we find the birds are on eggs. Eeeek! hold on tight as this means the season has really begun. Fortunately for us we have Rhian Evans working with us this year. She has just completed her first intense week and she is doing extremely well. It was only in the last hours on Friday that we managed to see any sign of fatigue. As a mountain marathon runner and a rock climber we were sure she'd have what it it takes. Her arms and legs are covered in some impressive scratches as she hasn't yet learnt how to slip through the bush without being torn apart but rather than complain she has shown off her wounds with pride!

Posted by Sam Williams on 05/18 at 10:56 AM
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