Protecting Birds by Hunting Them with Binoculars

Hobbyists of all ages are working to identify birds in Latin America. Some 649 species could disappear from the region by 2020, say experts.

CARACAS - The chance to see a yellow-shouldered Amazon parrot (Amazona barbadensis) can be motive enough for birdwatchers, who, binoculars in hand, are on a mission to identify the greatest possible number of avian species in a day -- to learn about their habitats, behaviors and the threats they face.

In Latin America, birdwatching draws hobbyists of all ages and occupations. With guidance of experts and the support of local groups or environmental coalitions, such as Birdlife International, these enthusiastic bird fanciers set out on their searches in parks, rivers, savannas, marshes and forests.

Colombia and Venezuela, in first and fifth place, respectively, in terms of bird biodiversity in Latin America, organize periodic species counts to collect information to fill their databases and allow them to define policies and actions for the recovery of endangered birds.

''The National Birdwatchers Network (RNOA, in Spanish) took the initiative of coordinating the censuses of these species in Colombia for the last four years. Before, ornithological associations and groups carried out these activities on their own, which prevented unification and standardization of the data,'' network coordinator Camila Gómez told Tierramérica.

The censuses allow experts to track how many species there are and the number of different birds that remain in a certain area over time.

''Knowing how many species there are in a country is useful for conservation efforts. How can we know what to preserve if we don't know what there is out there?'' said Gómez.

Nine percent of the 1,800 bird species in Colombia face some degree of threat. ''Reduced habitat, inappropriate use and lack of knowledge are the main causes of threat,'' she said.

The most vulnerable habitats are the highland marshes, swamps, all types of forests and the natural savannas. ''The most endangered species are the endemic ones, which are reduced in distribution and the victims of hunting or illegal wildlife trade,'' Gómez added.

In the case of Venezuela, organized birdwatching dates to the 1970s. Later, it became a tradition to hold Christmas outings for birdwatching, following the tradition of some other countries.

''More recently we have also been following the initiative of Birdlife International, which organizes a counting effort jointly with several countries in the month of October,'' Clemencia Rodner, member of the Audubon Society of Venezuela, told Tierramérica.

Venezuela has 1,490 species of birds, and among the most endangered are those that inhabit the forests. The expansion of the farming frontier and mining activities are serious threats to the survival of many types of birds, said Rodner, whose organization is at the forefront of Venezuelan birdwatching.

The military macaw and the yellow-shouldered Amazon were identified as ''endangered'' during the last count, in October 2004.

In other cases, pressure on the species comes from human demand for their meat, such as the birds in the tinamid family ('gallinas de monte' and 'soisolas', among others), not just in Venezuela, but throughout South America.

In countries like Brazil and Colombia, world leaders in biodiversity, extinction threatens 114 and 77 bird species, respectively. In Venezuela at least 40 native avian species have been identified as endangered.

Figures from Birdlife International indicate that of the 9,170 bird species in the world, 4,500 are found in the Americas. Of that total, 649 are in danger of becoming extinct by 2020.

Latin America is home to ''representative niches that make us privileged. The case of Ecuador is emblematic, because even though it is a small country, it is among the first in terms of biodiversity, due to the dramatic changes in altitude found there,'' said Rodner.

This natural wealth creates difficulties when it comes time to categorize the species, and underscores the importance of the census in guiding the direction of research.

Many birds ''are facing a low grade of threat simply because almost nothing is known about their habits, distribution, population and natural history,'' according to Colombia's RNOA coordinator Gómez.

Experts do not necessarily consider bird sightings by hobbyists as scientific data. But the accumulation of species counts may reveal trends in the life cycles of the birds.

''Some years ago it was possible to find in Caracas parks birds like the red-capped cardinal (Paroaria gularis). Today is is nearly impossible and that tells us there is strong pressure threatening the population of that species,'' explained Rodner.

Initiatives like those of the Venezuelan Audubon Society are being replicated, with its collaboration, in the private sector.

The Hato Piñero ranch, on the central Venezuelan plains, holds representatives of all animal species of the Orinoco plains, and has won fame as a bird observatory.

On the 80,000-hectare hacienda, 27 percent of the birds inhabiting the country are concentrated,'' Edgar Useche, executive director of the Hato Piñero Foundation, told Tierramérica.

''We organize visits with local and international tourists in areas intended for birdwatching. Visitors have fun learning, and hold out hope of seeing some endangered species,'' he said.

The Hato Piñero Foundation is conducting an inventory of flora and fauna species, and the data is to be used for its conservation projects.

The information that Audubon gathers in its censuses is sent to the regional Birdlife International headquarters in Quito, and from there it is sent on to other institutions to determine if it qualifies for financing for special species protection projects.

''We want to build the best inventory of birds in the country and thus ensure a count of species that is not repeated,'' said Marieta Hernández, president of the Audubon Society of Venezuela, during a birdwatching tour in October 2004.

In Colombia there is a free-access database on birds that is updated each year with the new census information. Shortly a broader database, known as DATaves, will be ready, with contributions of experiences of people from throughout the country.

There are an estimated 70 million birdwatchers worldwide, and experts estimate that this figure represent 35 percent of all international ecotourism.

* Yensi Rivero is a Tierramérica contributor. With reporting by Yadira Ferrer (Colombia).