NEW MACAW PARROT BIOLOGICAL STATION
The jungle sounds wake one up early and it's off the archaeological site of El Peru, visiting the nest of the Macaw parrots along the way. The night rain has left the trail muddy and the jaguar prints are easy to pick out even for this novice. Hey, here's a raccoon track, a smaller jaguar and a deer running, oh wow, what is that?? It is big but not a cat. Our Kek'chi guide, Isauro, shows me the three toed print of a tapir and his 4 toed back print. Next time I'll start the walk at dawn and maybe get to see some of these animals. Wait, there's some wild boar in person (coche de monte). They look smaller than their prints suggest.
The first macaw nest we visit is abandoned. They believe that the birds fly west to the Sierra Lacandón Forest, but only this year were the first two collars placed on adult macaws. They have hopes for more in time.
Three months ago, the workers startled three poachers trying to steal a Macaw chick. They caught one of them. Unfortunately, the antiquated laws in Guatemala do not include poaching and protection of endangered wildlife. His is however, in the court system for possession of a weapon without a license. The chick received blows to his head and cuts from the long stick they used to reach down into his nest, in a hollow of the tree Cantemo. The decision was made to bring the chick to the laboratory to help it recover before replacing it into the wild. We are going to visit that lab! I would love to see the puppet macaw they use to feed the chick.
On the way, we see a fake nest the project built which is not inhabited by the Macaws, however, the African bees or Raptors do, which cuts down on the Macaw's competition for nesting space. At nest #11 right under the spider monkeys, our guide points to a Macaw in the tree. Walking a little into the jungle off the trail the red and yellow colors become vivid against the blue sky. What a site! The head and body looms out of the entrance of a large hole in one of the branches of the Cantemo tree.
After a full day of hiking we take a rest at the lake Peru. Imitating the royal flycatcher (Onychorhtnchus coronatus) has the bird flying from tree to tree trying to figure out what is making his sound. The workers tell us that the macaw we saw at nest 11 is actually the chick they rescued and it has been adopted by a pair of parent Macaws which have been feeding it for the last three days. Yes! He will learn how to fly after all and hopefully breed with a mate himself.
You too can experience the wonders of the scientific research in the Reserve and stay the night at the Station now set up to house tourist and students in comfortable beds with clean and modern showers and toilets.