Landing in San Jose after 17hrs of travel from the UK, my next challenge was to locate the new bus terminal, and catch the 5pm to Estrada. While waiting at the bus station I bumped into Celine Depas, a French vet who was also heading to The Ara Project. We caught the bus together and travelled five hours to Estrada, where we were collected by the lovely Sarah Williams (Operations & Outreach Manager) wife of Sam Williams (Director) from The Ara Project.
Sarah drove us down winding dirt roads from Estrada to Punta Islita, where The Ara Project breeding centre is based. There is another site based in Manzanillo, this is the main release site for the Great Green Macaws. We arrived there at around 11.30pm local time, so found our beds in the basic but cosy volunteer house and got some sleep before the work started!
As a volunteer, your main daily work is feeding and general husbandry for the macaws. The day starts at 6am,
when the team decides who will be preparing breakfast for the birds (chopping and preparing 12kg of fruit and veg), and who will go and clean all the food and water dishes from the previous afternoon feed. There are currently 105 captive birds, a mixture of Scarlet and Great Green Macaws, situated in 7 different aviary zones. The team are hopeful that some of these birds will breed, so making them as comfortable, healthy and happy as possible is the goal, in the hope that eggs will be laid, as breeding birds for release is the main aim at the Punta Islita site, to increase the numbers of these beautiful birds in the wild. There is also a flock of around 25 released wild Scarlet Macaws that return to the site twice a day for food.
The morning feeding and cleaning routine takes roughly two hours, culminating in a team meeting at 8am run by Angharad Thomas (Site Manager). At this point everyone reports how the birds were in the aviaries that they visited to clean or feed. Everybody checks that all birds seem healthy, bright eyed and are eating, and if there are any issues. Everything is reported at this point, so that any important issues can be solved during the day. You then break for breakfast for 20 minutes, before the daily chores begin.
Usually, cleaning is the main, vital job during each working day at The Ara Project. Each aviary is deep cleaned weekly, so each day a new area is assigned to be thoroughly scrubbed, disinfected and washed, leaving a clean, attractive environment for the birds. This is of great importance to the macaws’ health and quality of life. The work is hard, dirty and sometimes quite challenging in the heat, currently reaching up to 37*C at the hottest point in the day. So we work from 9am until between 11am/12pm each day, when it gets very hot. At this point the team breaks for lunch and some free time, to get out of the heat if desired!
At 2pm the team regroups, to repeat the actions of the morning, and carry out the afternoon feeding. Again, this takes roughly 2 hours. Angharad runs tours for small groups of visitors at 4pm, to raise vital funds for the project, explaining to guests about the birds and what The Ara Project is trying to achieve. The wild birds are fed during this tour, allowing the guests to take some fantastic photos of the free flying Macaws.
From around 5pm, your time is yours, to eat, shower and maybe visit the beach for a swim or wander out to watch a beautiful sunset. The days are long and tiring, but incredibly rewarding, leaving you with no trouble falling asleep for the night!
By Sophie Hill