Proud schoolchildren, who’ve learned their numbers, make a game of counting from 1 to 100 to show off what they’ve learned. It takes them little time unless they get distracted and run off to play.
In the world of conservation science, a count can take months of planning and days of field work and analysis, followed by counts each year before a trend emerges to signal whether a critically endangered species is making a come-back.
This year, the Macaw Recovery Network, together with local partners Tropical Science Center, led the world’s first multinational count of Great Green Macaws in its mission to streamline conservation efforts throughout the six countries where these beautiful birds once flourished.
Great Greens are in danger of dying off due to habitat destruction, including deforestation and the pet trade. Earlier estimates put their numbers at only 500 to 1,000.
In July, MRN Network Program Coordinator José Antonio Díaz Luque and Bird Program Manager César Sánchez began contacting and meeting with more than 100 conservationists for the Great Green Macaw Population Census. During the months of September and October, when the birds roost in larger groups, small teams were counting macaws at 37 sites among Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Panama.
The teams counted twice a day, in the mornings before the macaws left their roosts to search for food and again in the evenings after the birds returned for the night.
They rose early, some around 3 a.m., to get to their stations in the forest; in Costa Rica, they dealt with muddy roads and mudslides on one occasion before they could get a day’s count: in Colombia, they counted macaws for the first time in Paramillo National Park, overcoming major difficulties to access the sites; they counted two subspecies of Great Greens in Ecuador, the only country where both types are known to live; and they counted in Panama.
Now with the data back, they are studying the results and Díaz Luque says they plan to report their findings in early 2023. The census will provide the latest estimate on the minimum population size of Great Green Macaws in the world.
Sánchez says that while it’s too early to draw any conclusions, he is encouraged by the census and is hopeful they will work to see an upward trend with a few more years of annual counts.
The 2022 count confirmed the presence of Great Greens in places where MRN only suspected the birds lived; it illuminated gaps in the research, especially in Colombia, and in the untouched jungle of El Darien in Panama, where presumably healthy populations live.
Most importantly, the 2022 census created stronger ties and greater enthusiasm among conservationists and bird lovers throughout Great Green Macaw habitat to work together for the species’ survival.
Peggy Harris
Volunteer Writer
Want to know how you can support efforts to save the critically endangered Great Green Macaw? Click here!