As a photographer, I am used to documenting the achievements of other people and following their steps into the field to capture their hard work. I absolutely love doing this because the people I work with are humble and don’t like to make a fuss despite the amazing work that they do, which means I get to do it for them and tell our supporters about their efforts. But now I find myself on the other side of the lens, documenting my own work…. well, with some slight help from Jack. Okay, a lot of help from Jack. Either way, its my first experience of photographing and documenting my own work as part of a project that I’m privileged to be a part of. I was now building refurbishing and maintaining nest boxes for the wild Scarlet Macaw population in Punta Islita, Costa Rica.
Location
Last time I posted about my work here, we had the predicament of how we were going to get a very heavy nest box back up the 20ft tree. Thankfully “we” didn’t have to, Jack and Tom, however, did. They had the manually intensive job of lugging this 60lbs nest box in to its new location.
Picking a spot for a nest box isn’t as easy as just finding a nice tree, its a mix of logic, experience and a little trial and error. The first artificial nest boxes were installed in 2015 in logical places that seemed suitable for the Macaws i.e. with a clear flight path, good surrounding view, high elevation and in an area familiar to the flock. Since then, we have a better understanding of the behaviour of the Macaws which has helped us find better locations. This is one of the many results that come from monitoring the nest boxes intensively. If a nest box has been totally ignored, we know that it is likely in a completely unsuitable location. If a nest box has been investigated but not used, we know we are on the right track and have picked a good area, but that we should reconsider the position/tree/height to make it more attractive to the birds. Finally, if a Macaw pair are known to have laid eggs in a nest box, we know that all we have to do is refurbish it and put it back in the same spot. That’s the theory behind it anyway and although it may seem trivial, without the long hours that are put into monitoring and collecting data, we wouldn’t have got to the point where Macaws are interested in our artificial nest boxes. Especially as we all know how picky our clients can be!
After a hop over a river and a pretty steep climb to a very awkwardly placed tree we arrived to one of the most beautiful locations in Punta Islita, over looking the entire valley towards the shining sea. All I could think was, “Wow, I wish my bedroom had a view like this”. Tom and Jack started to unpack the climbing equipment while I ambled about finding the perfect spot to get a tan…. I mean photograph the climb.
hop over a river and a pretty steep climb to a very awkwardly placed tree we arrived to one of the most beautiful locations in Punta Islita, over looking the entire valley towards the shining sea. All I could think was, “Wow, I wish my bedroom had a view like this”. Tom and Jack started to unpack the climbing equipment while I ambled about finding the perfect spot to get a tan…. I mean photograph the climb
