Blue-fronted Amazon Project

Category: Education | Date: Nov 19 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

Between Nov 12th and 15th, I participated on the XXVII Annual Ethology Meeting and I Latin-American Symposium of Ethology (http://www.xxviieae.com.br/), at Bonito - Mato Grosso do Sul. The theme of the meeting was “Animal evolution and behavior” and many well known scientists from all over Brazil and also from other countries were present. Dr. Neiva Guedes (Instituto Arara Azul - http://www.projetoararaazul.org.br/) presented her results and gave a talk to the attendees.  I presented two posters: 1) ‘Parental behavior of repopulated Blue-fronted Amazon’, with the collaboration of the biologist Alessandra Mara Sá Firmino, and 2) ‘Reproductive behavior of Blue-fronted Amazon monitored by a in nest microcamera’ with the collaboration of the undergraduates Verónica Ramirez Martinez (UFMS) e Thyago Sabino Morais (UCDB). 

Poster about parental behavior.

Poster about reproductive behavior.

These studies had the financial support of the Bird Park (Parque das Aves) - Foz Tropicana (http://www.parquedasaves.com.br/) and Caiman Ecological Refuge (http://www.caiman.com.br/), besides the operational support of the Fazenda San Francisco Agro Ecotourism Tours and Lodje (http://www.fazendasanfrancisco.tur.br/).

Many people were very interested in the results of our Project, including students and professionals from other states. The event was a success and I congratulate the event coordinator Dr. José Sabino, from UNIDERP/Anhanguera (http://www.uniderp.br/), for this great event!

Presenting the results, and posing in front of the posters with my son Rafael. ^{Images: João Augusto.}

Tags: Conference, Education, Ethology Meeting

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Category: Education, Partners | Date: Nov 18 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

On Dec 12th and 13th I had a chance to meet with the artisans, children, and teens from the Instituto Família Legal (http://www.familialegal.org.br/), at Bonito (http://www.portalpublicobonitoms.com.br/), Mato Grosso do Sul, and lecture about the Blue-fronted Amazon Project.

Walkiria, the coordinator of the institute, introduced me to the kids and artisans. ^{Image: Giana Correa.}

Lecture to the artisans - Instituto Família Legal. ^{Image: Giana Correa.}

Lecture to the kids and teens - Instituto Família Legal. ^{Image: Giana Correa.}

This meeting is the result of a partnership established earlier this year, with the coordinator of one of the projects in this institute, the Fibra Viva Project. This project, coordinated by Sinéia Milano, has as objective to generate income to women in need assisted by the Instituto Família Legal, through the manufacturing of items made of reused and recycled materials.These products are sold directly by our team on our lectures/seminars, and also by the Ecoloja, one of our great partners (http://www.ecoloja.art.br/) – some of their products follow a ‘parrot’ trend, check it out!

Large Parrot Bag, and neoprene Shoulder Bag - Fibra Viva Project. ^{Images: Glaucia Seixas} 

Detail on Parrot Bag - Fibra Viva Project.  ^{Image: Glaucia Seixas.}

During the two afternoons that we spend at the Instituto Familía Legal, Lucia and Giana, from the Fundação Neotropica do Brasil (http://www.fundacaoneotropica.org.br/), and I learnt about the importance of this great job done by the institute. The 11 artisans and 30 children/teens showed a strong interest on the issues related to the illegal animal trade and on the activities of the Blue-fronted Amazon Project.We also gave away a T-shirt of our Project to one of the artisans, and gave prizes to the best drawings and sentences made by the kids and teens. We hope this was just the start of a long term relationship. We truly appreciate this opportunity and we congratulate the wonderful job made by Walkiria, Sinéia, the teachers, and the staff of the Instituto Família Legal.

Kids painting and receiving prizes - Instituto Família Legal. ^{Image: Giana Correa.}

Tags: Instituto Família Legal

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Category: Pantanal, Video | Date: Oct 22 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

Vandir and I shot this movie a while ago, of a young parrot equipped with a radio transmitter being fed by one of its parents. Can you see the antenna?!

This was a male young parrot, which received the transmitter in November 2007, three days before its first flight.

The objective of this monitoring is to follow the young on its first months, to verify the behavior and health status. We monitor the birds every month, by direct observation, with a receptor and a portable directional antenna. The coordinates of these birds will are used to determine its home range by the minimum convex polygon method.

This is the first time that we had registered this kind of images! We are very happy to share them with you! We intend to acquire more radio transmitters with the support of the donors, to get to know even better about this species.

I hope you like it!

And keep an eye in our blog, as more and more videos are coming soon! ;0)

Glaucia

Tags: Parrot, radiotransmitter, Video

4 responses so far

Category: Field Work, Pantanal, Partners, Support, Team | Date: Oct 21 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

In July, the Blue-fronted Amazon Project received the professor MSc. Elaine A. Carvalho dos Anjos, actual coordinator of the Biologic Sciences course of the Dom Bosco Catholic University (UCDB) (http://www.bducdb.ucdb.br), at Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. In August 2008, the Neotropica Foundation of Brazil (http://www.fundacaoneotropica.org.br) established a partnership with the UCDB, allowing their students to participate on the Blue-fronted Amazon Project. Since then, the Project has received many UCDB students and volunteers, and in that field trip, Elaine and I created new goals for this promising partnership.

^{Image: Glaucia Seixas}

^{Image: Glaucia Seixas}

Elaine taking notes and watching parrots with Vandir.

In September, the Project received two special guests that, in addition to Joao and Vandir, contributed a lot to our field activities. One of them was the biologist Lucia Maria Monteiro, the project manager of the the Neotropica Foundation of Brazil. Lucia works at the headquarters of the Neotropica Foundation of Brazil, at Bonito, and currently coordinates the Guia ECOnsciente Project, financed by the CITI Foundation. Her 5-day visit to our Project had the goal to increase the exchange of expertise between the different projects of the Neotropica Foundation of Brazil. We believe that this manner we can amplify the nature conservation actions at Mato Grosso do Sul state.

^{Image: Glaucia Seixas}

Lucia holding a nestling.

^{Image: João Augusto}

^{Image: Beatriz Caminha}

Lucia and the rest of the team, measuring the nestlings and preparing the rapel.

Our second guest was Beatriz Caminha, who has being a great collaborator of our Project. For three days, Beatriz assisted in our field activities, with the monitoring of nests, eggs, and nestlings of Blue-fronted Amazon in Pantanal.

^{Image: Lucia Monteiro}

Beatriz and I measuring a nestling.

^{Image: Lucia Monteiro}

The team monitoring a nest.

^{Image: Glaucia Seixas}

Vandir and Beatriz  are counting parrots at a roosting site at Aquidauana river.

^{Image: Glaucia Seixas}

Beatriz and Lucia, watching the parrots.

^{Image: Glaucia Seixas}

Beatriz and João opening the  field gate.

 ^{Image: Lucia Monteiro}

Vandir monitoring a nest,  while Beatriz and I are taking biometry measurements of a nestling.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude for their help, pictures, opening fieldgate, annotations, and also for ’sharing in’ mosquitoes and ticks with us! We hope they have enjoyed the experience and that they keep helping the Project, more and more each time! Hope to have you again in the field with us sometime soon!

Hugs,

Glaucia Seixas

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Category: Donation, Field Work, Pantanal, Support | Date: Jul 18 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

The reproductive season is coming, and that is when we have to double our work load to monitor 200+ tree cavities and check the eggs and nestlings. But it’s not only the work load that increases this time of the year… our costs doubles as well. And I am very worried on how to continue the Project’s activities, particularly this year, due the low financial support and donations. Yes, I do apply for grants, but I get almost always the same answer… “We understand the importance of your Project; however, we need to give priority to endangered species”. Ok, we do need to protect endangered species. But we also need to avoid threatened species to become endangered!! Otherwise, we are always trying to mediate the problem, rather than preventing it from the beginning.

A couple of weeks ago, in our last field trip, our jeep broke again… We had to stop the data collection and go back to the city to have it fixed. It is a 1994 Vitara, Suzuki, which I bought used on 2004. Needless to say that I bought it from my own pocket – I don’t even know how much money I’ve invested on the Project to keep it running. Maybe putting our own money in our project is something that every researcher does at some point – but now I’ll no longer be able to financially support the Project.

I understand that the financial crisis is affecting everyone, but I also believe that actions to preserve the nature are fundamental to maintain our life quality in the present and for the future. Maybe we should realize that each of us can do a little bit, and that all together we can do a lot more.

We are in depth grateful for every single donation. But we need more help and support to continue the Project. I work for the parrots’ conservation with all my heart and I’ll keep doing it until I no longer can. And I won’t allow the negative answers of funding requests to put me down. Give a deep breath, and keep thinking other ways to find funding sources – that’s what I am going to do.

If you can help us, either by donations, of by helping marketing the Project (or in any other way you might think it could help), please do so.

I want to express here my sincere thanks for those who have been heping us during all these years, either by financial and logistic support, partnership, and volunteering. Muito Obrigada! Thank you very much!

Tags: Car, Donantion, Field Work

8 responses so far

Category: Field Work, Pantanal | Date: Jul 17 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

We have just got back from a field trip to Pantanal. Over there, Vandir and I counted the parrots under a cold 8°C weather, with some showers. For us, this is a very cold winter, and we had to wear many layers to stay warm! The reproductive season starts next month, in August. So in this trip, we fixed some nests that were damaged due wind, rain, or even tree deterioration, making sure that the entrance and bottom of the cavities are fine, so the parrots can use them for nesting in this upcoming season. We also closed some entrances that would allow predation, and added some bedding on the nest. Hopefully next month, these cavities will be used and we will find some eggs, which will develop in wonderful nestlings!

Here I am, trying to keep warm while registering the data!

Vandir checking the cavity.

Here Vandir is closing an entrance that would allow predation.

Bedding in the nest.

Tags: Cavities, Trees, Winter

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Category: Diet, Pantanal | Date: Jul 16 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

On the first part of my PhD dissertation, I analyzed the feeding behavior of the Blue-fronted Amazon. Once a month, from July 2005 to Dec 2007, my team and I used trails in different environments in Pantanal to observe the parrots.

I registered 1,349 Blue-fronted Amazon eating flowers, fruits, and seeds from 48 different plant species. The high seed consumption indicates that this parrot is mainly a graminivore of canopy trees. In general, the Blue-fronted Amazon is a generalist, with a very diverse diet, in response to the intense variety of resources in a seasonal and heterogeneous environment, such as Pantanal. Our next step will be to evaluate the nutritional composition of the Blue-fronted Amazon diet, with the collaboration of researches from different institutions.

Parrot eating flowers of the Caribbean Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia aurea).

Vandir and I checking the trees.

Tags: Diet, Pantanal, Parrot, PhD

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Category: Award, Pantanal | Date: Jul 06 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

Hi everyone! I think I need to start apologizing for the lack of posts for the past few months… The Project continues very active, with many field trips. But I have been super busy finalizing my PhD dissertation (on Ecology and Conservation, Mato Grosso do Sul Federal University), and I did not have any time to post some news in the blog…

Well, finally, on June 22nd, I defended my dissertation, on a 12-year long study about the Blue-fronted Amazon, which is divided in three chapters: feeding ecology (3-year observation period), collective roosting sites (4-year observation period), and reproductive success (12-year observation period). Many people directly contributed to data collection, such as our field technician Vandir, several externs, biologists, veterinarians, and zootechnists, and, of course, the essential orientation of Prof. Dr. José Ragusa Netto/UFMS Três Lagoas. The material and financial support of many people and institutions was fundamental for this study. The Project continues, aiming to help the development of conservation plans for this species and its environment.

I would like to thanks everyone who direct or indirectly helped the Project, and to share with you the happiness of having concluded my PhD degree! And I promise new posts soon!!

Tags: Pantanal, Parrot, PhD

2 responses so far

Category: Education | Date: Jun 01 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

On May 31st, I presented the Blue-fronted Amazon Project at the 5th Parrot International Symposium (www.parrotsinternational.org), held in Las Vegas, from May 29-31st (Video - Parrots International Symposium 2009). The Symposium program featured 20 speakers from across the globe, a very full schedule. Presentation topics ranged from parrot conservation, aviculture, behavior, and veterinary medicine. I am thankful for Dr. Mark and Marie Stafford’s invitation - Founders of the Parrots International, Dr. Anna Cronkap’s financial support - Parque das Aves Foz Tropicana, and the translation provided by Dr. Yara Barros - Technical Director of the Parque das Aves. Several other Brazilian Projects were presented besides the Blue-fronted Amazon Project:

Carlos Bianchi - “How we can improve our knowledge about endangered species: a contribution from the Pfrimer’s Parakeet project”, Brazil.

Dr. Mathias Dislich - “Development of a Macaw Reintroduction Project: A case study”, Blue and Gold Macaw and Green-winged Macaw
Reintroduction Project - Igaucu Falls, Brazil.

Dr. Neiva Guedes - “Factors that influence the reproductive success of Hyacinth Macaw in Pantanal, Brazil”,The Hyacinth Macaw Project - The Pantanal, Brazil.

Dr. Yara Barros - “Spix’s Macaw Recovery Program: Retrospective and Perspectives”, Brazil.

The meeting was great, and it was definitely helpful to to divulge the Blue-fronted Amazon Project and to raise awareness for their conservation. Keep tunned! More news coming soon!

Glaucia

Dr. Anna Cronkap - Parque das Aves Foz Tropicana

Dr. Mark and Marie Stafford - Parrots International

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Category: Nestlings, Pantanal, Team | Date: Feb 13 2009 | By: Blue-fronted Amazon

The reproductive season of the blue-fronted parrot at Pantanal occurs always between July and December. On July, the couples start to look and compete for cavities in trees to make their nests. In August they start to lay the eggs (with an interval of 2 to 15 days between eggs) which will be incubated for about 28 days.

Female in the nest.

Just born chick.

Females taking care of the nest.

The nestling are featherless, and have their eyes closed; and in my opinion they are wonderful! But not everyone agrees with that… ;0)

They stay 54-60 days in the nest, under extreme careful parental care. And around November/December, they are ready for their first flight!

These guys are ready for their first flight!

On 2008, we monitored 155 cavities on trees (which have been previously used as nest), from which 51 were used for nesting this reproductive season. The nests had anything between 1 and 5 eggs each, with a total of 131 eggs. Many eggs were lost, either due natural predation or rain/wind. Sixty-four parrots hatched, and around 40 of them made through their first flight (and were leg banded). We wish them good luck and a long life. Happy with this success we continue our work for their conservation.

Some more pictures for you… Enjoy!

Here I am checking a nest!

And Vandir is checking this one.

Everyone helps to check the equipments, to make sure everything is working properly.

Veronica is monitoring some chicks.

These guys grow fast! We need to measure them often to monitor their development.

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