LoraKim Joyner's Blog, page 11
November 14, 2017
Nurturing Nature in Nantucket
As LoraKim is back in Central America engaging in more parrot conservation work, this time in Honduras, I am once again taking over One Earth Conservation’s weekly blog posting. A couple of weeks ago, she and I spent a wonderful weekend on Nantucket Island, presenting a Nurture Nature workshop for, and engaging in other activities with, the Unitarian Universalist Church on Nantucket in their lovely, historical church, which was built in 1809. [Note: LoraKim and I are also both members of Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations in the New York metropolitan area.] LoraKim, who is an ordained UU minister in addition to being a wildlife veterinarian and parrot conservationist, also preached a Sunday sermon for the congregation on “Reverence for Life.” It was inspirational to meet the people and see the beautiful places on that very special island off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
On Saturday afternoon, members of the congregation attended a Nurture Nature workshop where, among other things, they learned about the biology of why nature is good for people’s physical and mental health (including communing with the ground, as in the photo above!), imagined what it is like to be a chickadee or wolf, and discussed the importance of five human intelligences – emotional, social, multispecies, ecological and spiritual (non-sectarian spirituality, that is). After a hearty lunch and the conclusion of the workshop, a bunch of us set off for a Wild Walk at Sanford Farm, a nature park located towards the eastern end of Nantucket Island. In the brisk autumn air, we enjoyed the natural setting and watching wild swans with their two young cygnets (baby swans), as well as other local birds. LoraKim’s sermon on Sunday morning focused on Albert Schweitzer – physician, theologian, musician, and philosopher – who gave to the world the Reverence for Life Ethic. More than anything, his life was his argument. She asked us all how can we live like he did, with deep reverence for all of life in ways that nurture and save ourselves, as we save the world. LoraKim reflected upon this, on what it means to be human in a multispecies world, and spoke of her goal to foster compassionate communication in our communities of mixed species so that all beings may flourish. The Nantucket UU congregation is a group of people who love their island and are committed to conserving its unique habitat and their way of life. They were very engaged in One Earth Conservation’s message of nurturing themselves through nature and how that will help them maintain this commitment. Please let us know if you would like us to bring a Nurture Nature program to your local religious home, civic organization, school or any other group that may be interested.
November 7, 2017
Counting Parrots in Guyana Because They Count on Us
Rewa, Guyana October 14-24, 2017
On the Rewa River (photo by Marc Johnson)
Rewa LodgeLocated at the confluence of the Rewa and Rupununi rivers in Guyana is a remarkable village of 306 people with five indigenous languages spoken along with English. They have developed an industry of ecotourism centered on an ecolodge that brings economic choices to the people. They have chosen to protect a huge swath of Guyana and the beings within.
Rewa School Children Displaying Their Parrot Conservation CommitmentThey are most noted for their Arapaima conservation recovery project, where the fish now has higher population numbers than 20 years ago. They conduct counts of the fish and monitor the impact of sports angling on this particular species. They were primed for our invitation to see if we could partner with them in monitoring and protecting their parrots.
Motorized Casual Count 
Fixed Point Offical Count Along the Rewa RiverThe story we repeatedly heard while in Guyana for three weeks was that in the 1980's most of the parrots were "trapped out," meaning that they became scarce because so many were removed from the wild and sold for the pet trade to the USA and Europe. Now that both of these regions have halted importation of wild parrots, the decreasing market demand has allowed some populations to recover in areas where villages have said "no more trapping." However, even in villages that say they don't trap, they also tell us that some trapping happens. Parrots remain coveted for domestic pets, and the international community still places a high demand on certain species, such as the macaws, the talking amazon parrots, and the sun parakeets. In reality no one knows beyond anecdotal evidence the status of parrots in Guyana, one of two remaining countries in Latin America where trapping is allowed and parrots are exported (neighboring Suriname being the other). Our goal was to see how we could assist the Guyanese in understanding, cherishing, and preserving their parrots.
Up River Camp at River BurstWith that in mind we began counting parrots our first evening in Rewa, after visiting Karasabai. We were fortunate that Davis Edwards and Rudolph Edwards from the village joined our group. They took to parrot censusing like they had been doing it for years (and our hope is that they will be doing it for years!). Every morning and evening, and often during the day, we conducted single point counts, fixed transect counts, motoring casual counts on the river, and floating official counts. Over nine days we amassed a lot of data, which you can find on eBird in the near future. In summary we saw 15 parrot species in the Rewa region, for a total of 1,758 sightings, and in all of Guyana (concentrated in the villages of Karasabai, Rewa, Yupukari, and the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown) we saw 19 species for a total of 3,148 sightings.
Blue and Yellow Macaws Eating Palm Fruit on the Rewa RiverWe also saw wonderful sights along the river, including, but not limited to, rainbows, tapirs, giant river otters, a goliath bird eating spider, and a pink-toed taruntula (photos below with special thanks to Marc Johnson for the two spider pictures).
Our most important accomplishment was building the capacity and commitment amongst us all for counting in this river habitat for the future. We will continue the work in the Rupununi/Rewa region, so we can understand any population trends here, which can then be compared to other regions in Guyana.
Most of Our Counting Crew at Rewa (Danika, Karen, Travis, Dicky, Davis, Michael, Marc, Rudy)Thank to team Rewa for your expertise, your commitment, and your generosity towards beginning a project together.
On the Rewa River (photo by Marc Johnson) Rewa LodgeLocated at the confluence of the Rewa and Rupununi rivers in Guyana is a remarkable village of 306 people with five indigenous languages spoken along with English. They have developed an industry of ecotourism centered on an ecolodge that brings economic choices to the people. They have chosen to protect a huge swath of Guyana and the beings within. Rewa School Children Displaying Their Parrot Conservation CommitmentThey are most noted for their Arapaima conservation recovery project, where the fish now has higher population numbers than 20 years ago. They conduct counts of the fish and monitor the impact of sports angling on this particular species. They were primed for our invitation to see if we could partner with them in monitoring and protecting their parrots. Motorized Casual Count Fixed Point Offical Count Along the Rewa RiverThe story we repeatedly heard while in Guyana for three weeks was that in the 1980's most of the parrots were "trapped out," meaning that they became scarce because so many were removed from the wild and sold for the pet trade to the USA and Europe. Now that both of these regions have halted importation of wild parrots, the decreasing market demand has allowed some populations to recover in areas where villages have said "no more trapping." However, even in villages that say they don't trap, they also tell us that some trapping happens. Parrots remain coveted for domestic pets, and the international community still places a high demand on certain species, such as the macaws, the talking amazon parrots, and the sun parakeets. In reality no one knows beyond anecdotal evidence the status of parrots in Guyana, one of two remaining countries in Latin America where trapping is allowed and parrots are exported (neighboring Suriname being the other). Our goal was to see how we could assist the Guyanese in understanding, cherishing, and preserving their parrots. Up River Camp at River BurstWith that in mind we began counting parrots our first evening in Rewa, after visiting Karasabai. We were fortunate that Davis Edwards and Rudolph Edwards from the village joined our group. They took to parrot censusing like they had been doing it for years (and our hope is that they will be doing it for years!). Every morning and evening, and often during the day, we conducted single point counts, fixed transect counts, motoring casual counts on the river, and floating official counts. Over nine days we amassed a lot of data, which you can find on eBird in the near future. In summary we saw 15 parrot species in the Rewa region, for a total of 1,758 sightings, and in all of Guyana (concentrated in the villages of Karasabai, Rewa, Yupukari, and the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown) we saw 19 species for a total of 3,148 sightings. Blue and Yellow Macaws Eating Palm Fruit on the Rewa RiverWe also saw wonderful sights along the river, including, but not limited to, rainbows, tapirs, giant river otters, a goliath bird eating spider, and a pink-toed taruntula (photos below with special thanks to Marc Johnson for the two spider pictures).Our most important accomplishment was building the capacity and commitment amongst us all for counting in this river habitat for the future. We will continue the work in the Rupununi/Rewa region, so we can understand any population trends here, which can then be compared to other regions in Guyana. Most of Our Counting Crew at Rewa (Danika, Karen, Travis, Dicky, Davis, Michael, Marc, Rudy)Thank to team Rewa for your expertise, your commitment, and your generosity towards beginning a project together.
November 1, 2017
Protecting the Sun Parakeets in Karasabai, Guyana
Double rainbow over Georgetown airport right before we board plane to LethemKarasabai Village, Guyana borders Brazil on the Ireng River. A contingent of parrot conservationists from Foster Parrots, One Earth Conservation, and the Cheadle Center for Biodiveristy and Ecological Restoration (University of California, Santa Barbara) went there to see how we might be in solidarity with the people and parrots of this region. We began in Georgetown and flew a small plane to Lethem, and then rented a truck to Karasabai, where we knew we could find the endangered sun parakeet.
Town center honoring their wildlife (above) and Ecolodge under construction (below)
Our goal was to locate the sun parakeet and assess other species of parrots, which meant conducting several formal and casual bird counts. On the first morning we found our target species and after that drove over the region and boated up and down the river to see a total of 22 distinct sun parakeet individuals. We also found roosting areas of this species, as well as a red and green macaw roosting site and a yellow-crowned roosting site with over 112 individuals spending the night in the center of the village behind the school. Both of these latter two species are not listed as endangered, though we heard time and time again while in Guyana that these birds are trapped and are a demand species for the wildlife trade.
Passing the rapids on the Ireng river with Guyana on one side and Brazil on the other
Parrot conservationists Travis Moonschein, Michael Schindlinger, and Danika Oriol-Morway in front of the school, which is also a yellow-crowned parrot roost site
Villagers engaged in counting parrotsHere are our bird counts (minimum number of distinct individuals in the area):Green-rumped parrotlets 10 Brown-throated parakeets 50Sun parakeets 22 Yellow-crowned amazons 112Red and green macaws 26
Red and green macaws flying during counting
Brown throated parakeet during count
Rainbow over mountains around Karsabai. Rainbows graced our journey nearly every day.While there, we met with the village elders and chief and together we decided to start an official sun parakeet conservation project. This will include support for ecotourism, education and consciousness raising, accurate population monitoring, and nest monitoring and protection.
Pleased group of villagers and visiting conservationists agreeing to protect the parakeetsAlthough there is some sense that the population might be growing, this has not been confirmed. In addition we heard that 16 sun parakeets were poached this year, which the villagers confiscated and later released. With the pressure from the wildlife trade for this species, we feel it is urgent that we collaborate with the people of this village so that the presence of the sun parakeet never sets into the dark night.
There are more sun parakeets in captivity around the world than flying free in the wild (photo by Takashi Hososhima)
