Volunteer Duties
I realized as I was enjoying reviewing photos of macaws that I haven´t really described the types of monitoring that I am (trying to) help the Macaw Project do. Here they are:
1. Clay Lick
Each day from 5AM until 5PM, someone records all birds present on the clay lick every 5 minutes. When guessing...er, identifying...the species, we have 6 macaw, 5 parrot, 6 parakeet and 3 parrotlet species from which to choose. The calls are supposed to help me distinguish among all the birds, but see below. The monitoring spot is in a sunny, swampy place, so it can be uncomfortable (hot, sticky, insect-ridden).
2. Transects
Two different transects, or monitoring lines, of up to 5 kilometers in length, are defined in the jungle around the TRC. The transect must be walked over specified period of time, and all parrots identified by call or by sight must be noted down with an estimate of direction from observer and distance, and whether the bird was flying or perched. I´m having difficulty with this as many of the calls are very similar, we hardly ever see the birds for the trees, and my left ear that Bob Sansone destroyed with a shotgun blast is of little help in determining direction.
3. Foraging Walks
We walk different trails through the jungle, again, identifying parrots heard or seen, and again a problem for me. In addition, if we actually hear fruit that may have been dropped by a foraging macaw, we search for and collect it for analysis.
4. Point Counts
From defined, marked spots in the forest we count all parrots heard or seen within a ten minute period. Again, I need a lot more practice at this, and maybe a hearing aid.
5. Nest Monitoring
Risking life and limb, with a spotter, we ascend large trees by ropes and ascenders to check contents of nests, both natural and artificial, of macaws. If eggs are present, no further check is made until predicted hatch 28 days later. If chicks are present, they are lowered to the ground in a bucket, kept warm with a water bottle, and weighed, measured (tarsus and wing), examined for ectoparasites, and photographed, then returned to the nest. All of this would be easy enough if the parents weren´t quite so worried about their gene pool, which is why ¨the hand¨ is an essential part of the gear, allowing us to keep them occupied while we are messing with them.
Between all this, there is just enough time for 3 meals, 3 showers (at least), and maybe some clothes washing.
1. Clay Lick
Each day from 5AM until 5PM, someone records all birds present on the clay lick every 5 minutes. When guessing...er, identifying...the species, we have 6 macaw, 5 parrot, 6 parakeet and 3 parrotlet species from which to choose. The calls are supposed to help me distinguish among all the birds, but see below. The monitoring spot is in a sunny, swampy place, so it can be uncomfortable (hot, sticky, insect-ridden).
2. Transects
Two different transects, or monitoring lines, of up to 5 kilometers in length, are defined in the jungle around the TRC. The transect must be walked over specified period of time, and all parrots identified by call or by sight must be noted down with an estimate of direction from observer and distance, and whether the bird was flying or perched. I´m having difficulty with this as many of the calls are very similar, we hardly ever see the birds for the trees, and my left ear that Bob Sansone destroyed with a shotgun blast is of little help in determining direction.
3. Foraging Walks
We walk different trails through the jungle, again, identifying parrots heard or seen, and again a problem for me. In addition, if we actually hear fruit that may have been dropped by a foraging macaw, we search for and collect it for analysis.
4. Point Counts
From defined, marked spots in the forest we count all parrots heard or seen within a ten minute period. Again, I need a lot more practice at this, and maybe a hearing aid.
5. Nest Monitoring
Risking life and limb, with a spotter, we ascend large trees by ropes and ascenders to check contents of nests, both natural and artificial, of macaws. If eggs are present, no further check is made until predicted hatch 28 days later. If chicks are present, they are lowered to the ground in a bucket, kept warm with a water bottle, and weighed, measured (tarsus and wing), examined for ectoparasites, and photographed, then returned to the nest. All of this would be easy enough if the parents weren´t quite so worried about their gene pool, which is why ¨the hand¨ is an essential part of the gear, allowing us to keep them occupied while we are messing with them.
Between all this, there is just enough time for 3 meals, 3 showers (at least), and maybe some clothes washing.
posted by Christian Hellwig at 2:48 PM
2 Comments:
This is quite helpful in understanding what you are doing. Sounds like very busy days. I wonder how would they have gotten it done if you had not been there.
Sorry I couldn't comment before on this Dave. As you now know, we had no internet for about ten days. That was a drag.
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