AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums About Belize Nature Macaw 2017 nesting season concludes

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera), representing Belize's largest parrot species, is locally endangered due to poaching and is listed in the Wildlife Protection Act as a species of conservation concern. For Belize, the wild population estimates are around 200 individuals (Matola & Sho 2002). Nationally, the Chiquibul Forest is the key foraging and breeding habitat for the species. The Friends for Conservation and Development (FCD) annually undertakes a seven-month biological monitoring program aimed at protecting and documenting the wild populations of macaws. Specific effort is directed since FCD has identified the macaw as the flagship species for the conservation and management of this Key Biodiversity Conservation Area.

Poaching is a major threat to the survival of Scarlet Macaws in Belize. In 2011, poaching rate was at 89% which was leading to the demise of the wild population. But with the adoption of an adaptive and robust management and conservation strategy the incidences of poaching were reduced to an average of 35% from 2012 to 2015. Thereafter from 2015 to this period, none of the chicks monitored have been lost to poaching (See Figure 1). The success of bio-monitoring efforts has been possible with support from the Belize Forest Department, Wildlife Conservation Society, late Dave Tyrie, Ray Mayhew and Jacqui Rukin from the United Kingdom, the US. Department of the Interior, Belize Electric Company Ltd., UKAid/DEFRA, the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Estate of ULF Rasmussen and the Belize Wildlife and Referral Clinic.

With the passage of Hurricane Earl in August of 2016, three of the most successful scarlet macaw nests were destroyed, thus it was unclear how the macaws would have responded during the 2017 breeding season. Although the breeding season started slow, a total of 9 breeding pairs were reported, resulting in the laying of 24 eggs. Eleven chicks hatched and eight of these chicks were able to fledge successfully into the wild. Three of the chicks that perished were lost due to natural predation.

Figure 1: Comparative number of scarlet macaw eggs, hatchlings and fledgling from 2012 to 2017.

Saving the Scarlet Macaw

There have been active efforts by the FCD and other environmental organizations to replenish the scarlet macaw population in the forest. Earlier this week, the season for scarlet macaw closed following seven months of research and biological monitoring in the area. Manzanero says that the good news is that in the past three years, they have not lost any of the birds or their nests to poachers.

Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD

"We have not lost any parrots in terms of poaching. It was during this last season however that until then we have been able to successfully able to apprehend two poachers. So we learnt more on how they operate and so we were successful this last season in terms of seizing two Guatemalans. The poaching of scarlet macaws is still one that is prevalent every year and that's why we tend to get a presence on the ground. Having a presence however means that if there are seven nests, we need at least fourteen men at any given time. So the more of the parrots that we have or the active nests, means that we need to have more people. And as a result we have also offered to have volunteers in the area and also trying to engage Belizeans and other people as volunteers to participate in terms of having a presence. But I think scarlet macaws from our own estimates, based on the programs, it is starting now to have a higher number of parrots that we will consider to be going into the wild. So our suspicion is that the population will already be increasing."

Manzanero says that the scarlet macaw population is about two hundred and fifty to three hundred parrots.�

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