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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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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April 21 2007
Bonaire’s Parrot Team
by Sam Williams
The project has grown and now we are ten strong. They include people from England, Wales, the USA and Portugal and it's a crazy time. The aim of having lots of people here is so we can cover a large amount of the island and search for nests. It works too. We have another 15 locations where birds have been seen going in and out of cavities. Of course nothing is confirmed until there are eggs but it is very exciting. There are also a further 10 or so locations which are of a high priority for further observations.
In the morning we are all out in the field in different locations watching for parrots and seeing what they are getting up to. We are looking for nest prospecting and any other clue the birds are getting in the mood. The volunteers have come out around the time the birds started breeding last year but it seems the parrots are a little later this year so it isn't all that easy to pin down particular pairs and be sure of what their intentions are.
The logistics are a nightmare and I've become rudely aware how much work managing a team of people can be. The team is accommodated in three houses which are about as separate as they could be on this island. We have three cars and twice a day we have to get everybody into different areas of the island using the least amount of fuel we can and wasting as little time as possible, phew!
The afternoons have been spent doing a variety of other activities as the parrots are much less consistent at that time. So the parrot team have been learning plant species and then using their new found knowledge to conduct feeding observations. All good ecological training! We've been to a random selection of cliffs and searched them for cavities too. We then measure the holes and will allow me to define the parrots cavity preferences because I'll then be able to look at used verses unused sites. It's not all work though and we do allow the team to have some day off to enjoy Bonaire!
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