07 Sep Conserving the Scarlet Macaw

As part of conservation efforts for the Scarlet Macaw, artificial nests have been installed in two colleges and five schools. In each school, trees with easy visibility were chosen for students based on  characteristics of diameter and height for the installation of the nests.

Students of these schools attended a workshop on ecology, life cycles and the importance of conservation of the species Ara macao. Students from the 5th, 6th, and 9th grades are in charge of monitoring macaw activities and noting events such as flights and perching near the nests and when a macaw investigates the inside of a nest. They also monitor the activity of other species near the nest.

The objective of this project in schools, in addition to providing a nesting site for the species, is raising students’ awareness toward the conservation of the species. In these communities illegal poaching of chicks and posession of wild animals does exist and this project serves to help reduce such activities and the consequent impacts on Macaw populations in the Osa Peninsula.