April 12: Steve Howell on Military Macaws
- While birding around northern Jalisco, Mexico, for the past ten days, Steve Howell and Luke Seitz found Military Macaws to be a daily occurrence—there is a healthy (but inevitably threatened) population of these magnificent birds in the region. In some places the birds could even be watched perched, rather than the more usual flight views.
- A couple of low-flying macaws from a few days ago, spectacular birds with their palette of emerald-green, turquoise, red, and golden yellow.
- Perhaps not surprisingly, the Mexican populations of Military Macaw look and sound somewhat different from the other (far distant) populations in the Andes of South America, and are a potential split (Mexican Macaw), making their conservation even more important.
- Fortunately, there are people passionate about conserving the macaws and their habitat. Luke and Steve met with macaw biologists Carlos Bonilla R. and Claudia Cinta M., who have been working in Jalisco for 10 years with conservation, research, and environmental education. Check their website www.macawforever.org for more information; like all such projects they always welcome donations—even a little money can go a long way in Mexico.
Posted: April 12, 2021