During May, Glaucia, Vandir, and Thayane received Dr. Vivian Ribeiro Baptista-Maria, a biologist and PhD in Applied Ecology from ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo, accompanied by Daniela Masumoto, a BS in Tourism. During the field trip, Dr. Vivian helped us to identify the plant species consumed by the parrots or used as nest cavity. Dr. Vivian is consultant of Fundação Neotrópica do Brasil and is responsible for the environmental consulting Bíon – Consultoria Ambiental (vrbmaria@gmail.com). Two days (and nights!) of hard work, rain, sun, mosquitoes, and ticks. Dr. Vivian’s voluntary collaboration was fundamental for this part of the project, when the data of 11 years of project are being analyzed for results compilation and publishing.
Since June 2005 we have been studying the dietary ecology of the blue-fronted amazon parrot in Pantanal, Brazil. Every month during the field trips we observe and register the vegetal species consumed by the parrots. When is not possible to recognize the vegetal species in the field, we take pictures and collect samples for further identification at the Ecology and Botanic Laboratory at the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), a federal university in the state.
During February and March, the field activities of the Project were done under the financial support of Parrots International. The funds were donated trough the representatives Mark e Marie Stafford. I presented them the Project, after the invitation of Dr. Neiva Guedes, when they were visiting the Hyacinth Macaw Project in Pantanal. The financial support from Parrots International during these months was essential and we really appreciate their contribution!!
The flood season at Pantanal has started. Dr. Sergio Galdino, a researcher at EMBRAPA-Pantanal, explains that Pantanal is a plain surrounded by plateaus where springs of the main Pantanal’s rivers can be found. The large extension of the plain (140,000 km2) associated with its low declivity collaborate to a complex flood system in the region. At the flood season (Dec to May), the water from the rains at the plateaus associated with the rains at the plain area overflow the flat landscape – the water levels rise more than three meters!
The cattle raisers must transfers the herd to higher lands, in attempt to avoid the flood. But it is not only the Pantaneiro cowboy who works under rain – our team too! On our March field trip we counted the parrots and analyzed their behavior during the rainy season. In several occasion we had to leave the car and evaluate the area by foot.
Despite making out work harder, we are happy with the flood, because it is a blessing for the whole ecosystem of Pantanal!
Between February 17th and 21st, the externs Veronica and Thayane, which are biology college students, participate at the XXVII Brazilian Congress of Zoology at Curitiba, PR – Brazil. The subject ‘Zoology in the next 30 years’ promoted a huge and polemic debate about the future ways of this area. The event congregated 4,500 people, including professional zoologists and students from Brazil and abroad. Veronica presented a poster entitled ‘Associated arthopods at the Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot’s (Amazona aestiva) nest at Pantanal’. This study had the participation of another extern (Lelis) and was oriented by Dr. Gustavo Graciolli, a professor at the Biological Sciences Department, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul. This study revealed the presence of adult acari and insects at the Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot’s nests. The most frequent group were adult Coleoptera (46,7%), Dermestidae larvae (20%), adult Formicidae (26,7%) and Calliphoridae (Diptera) larvae (26,7%). The poster was very popular and several people were interested on the Project. Congratulations Veronica!
Since January 2008 the information and results of the Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot Project are available at the website “ECO-INDEX: better conservation through communication”. The Eco-Index was launched in 2001 by The Rain Forest Alliance to provide conservation community with a quickly and easily vehicle to share project data and reports, lessons earned, and best practices in a succinct and consistent format.
We have just gotten back from the Pantanal, after a field trip full of exciting findings and setbacks to our research. The exciting findings from this trip were mostly related to the rainy season in Pantanal, which is when farms become flooded and the wild life rejuvenates with the return of the rains. Also, the beautiful nestlings of black-hooded parakeet (Nandayus nenday), sharp-tailed conure (Aratinga acuticaudata), and white-eyed conure (Aratinga leucophthalma) that were monitored were beneficial to our research as well.
However, during this trip (and the past two), we experienced several setbacks to our research…The worst of all was the loss of ALL our biometry and banding materials and equipment. This equipment and materials are valued at US$600 all together. The scale (worth US$200), leg bands and pliers (worth US$300), and caliper (worth US$100) were all lost. The loss of this equipment was due to another problem with our car – a broken trunk door, which opened during the trip, allowing the bag with the equipment to fall off!!! We only realized that this equipment had been lost during our travels the following day, when we were about to start measuring the nestlings! We retraced our route along the road in an attempt to find our equipment, but we were unsuccessful…:-( Besides all the equipment that was lost, we are in desperate need of a new vehicle that costs about UD$50,000, because our current vehicle is too old (too old means 14 years old) to perform field work, and is in need of being replaced. We are spending lots of money on maintaining this car, and it is cheaper to buy a new one than to keep paying to maintain the old one…and buy new equipment that falls out of the back door!
The Black-hooded Parakeet (Nandayus nenday) is native to South America, more specifically, from Pantanal. In Portuguese it is known as “Príncipe Negro”, what means “Black Prince”, due the black facial mask, its main characteristic. They live in small bands, but can be seen in hundreds in some regions. Little is known about this species and we are intensifying the studies about them in Pantanal, Brazil. During the reproductive season (from October to February), we have seen several birds investigating a tree hole, where they establish their nests.
We still do not know if other birds from the band collaborate with the care of the nestlings. Besides the aspects regarding their feeding and behavior, we are monitoring the nestlings and collecting material to study sanitary issues. During January, Vandir and the externs Veronica and Diana monitored several nestlings of the “Prince” of Pantanal!
HAPPY NEW YEAR dear friends! WE SINCERELY THANK YOU!
Vandir and Jackson are currently on a field expedition investigating the available cavities in trees, at different environments. These environments include the ciliary forest, dry forest, floodplain and man-made pasture. On each environment, the trees that have more than 20 cm of DBH (diameter at breast height) are closely analyzed.
Jackson is marking a tree. Those that have cavities are marked; later Vandir and Jackson climb them to measure the cavity and verify if the blue fronted parrot or another bird species previously used it. We have a total of 160 marked trees, which are checked on each field trip.
Sometimes is not so simple to reach the cavity. Often rapel is necessary.
Vandir measuring a cavity. During these check ups, new residents are found and the most frequent this year was the toco toucan (Ramphastos toco). So far, we have found 6 nests of toco toucan, which use the same cavities of the blue fronted parrot to reproduce.
Nestlings of toco toucan (Ramphastos toco). The toco toucan occurs at Pantanal, Savannah and Amazon. It is also the biggest toucan species and its reproductive season begin in late October, a little bit before the end of the blue fronted parrot’s reproductive season, at the same area. Often the toco toucan dislodges the blue fronted parrot from to start the posture on its nest cavity.
Can you see the adult on the top of the tree?!
The nests that we have found have between 2 and 4 nestlings, and the parents are always around while we investigate the cavities. This is the law of nature!
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Vandir and me observing the parrots eating (top) and samples of leaves and fruits to be submitted to the lab (bottom). The identification of the species used to be done by Dr. Ubirazilda Maria Resende, and now is done by the biology undergraduate students at UFMS: Tatiana Souza do Amaral, Thales Henrique Dias, Thayane Ely Lima and Verónica Ramírez Martinez. 
Tatiana and Veronica checking references for identifying the samples. 
Thales and Thayane identifying samples in the lab. The specialized bibliographies used are ‘Frutos e Sementes’ [Fruits and Seeds] (Barroso et al., 2004) and ‘Botânica Sistemática’ [Systematic Botanic] (Souza & Lorenzi, 2005). 
Thanks to the constant efforts and dedication of this team we soon will be able to make available the diet of blue-fronted amazon parrots in Pantanal!Thank you all! A great team of biology students: Veronica, Thales, Thayane, and Tatiana. Thank you guys!
