Visiting the Hyacinth of Brazil and Blue Throated of Bolivia
12/1/97
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Headline: Visiting the Hyacinth of Brazil and Blue Throated of Bolivia
Source: The Macaw Landing Foundation
Date: 12/1/97
Author: Jack Devine of the Macaw Landing Foundation
Last August, several other macaw enthusiasts and I accompanied Dr. Charles
Munn of the Wildlife Conservation Society to Brazil and Bolivia to see
first-hand the Hyacinth Macaw and Blue-Throated Macaw conservation projects
he is currently working on. (paragraph) We landed in Santa Cruz, Bolivia,
the least expensive destination by air from the states to the project areas
we wanted to view. Next we flew to Cuiaba, Brazil, where we took a two-hour
bus ride north of Cuiaba to Serra das Araras Ranch (translated this means
the Mountain Range of the Macaws), located on the edge of the Amazon. There
we saw a flock of Red-Shouldered Macaws (ara nobilis) plus a sampling of
the amazing variety of 300+ birds that can be seen in this area.
From the ranch we headed south to the Pantanal, one of the richest habitats
in Brazil. The world's largest wetland, around 55,000 square miles located
on Brazil's border with Bolivia, the Pantanal sprawls across the middle of
the continent. The lowland plains are characterized by pronounced wet and
dry seasons. Habitats range from semi-deciduous and evergreen forest to
palm woodlands and seasonally flooded grasslands with scattered clumps of
cerrado scrub on elevated patches of land. An enormous number of lakes and
rivers cross the region, constantly cleansing and renewing the wetlands.
The Pantanal is a great place to see a wide diversity of animals on the
South American continent. The wide-open areas allow for the spotting of
animals such as the Giant Anteater, Black Howler Monkey, Marsh Deer (a
highly endangered species, due to hunting), Capybara, Jaguar and Yellow
Anaconda.
As impressive as the animals are, it is the variety of bird life that is
most spectacular in the Pantanal. Jabiru (a stork and one of the largest
birds in the Americas), Maguari, Wood Storks, Toco, Toucans, Great Egrets
and Snow Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Roadside Hawks and many other raptor
species, Parrots, and yes, the most spectacular of all the birds in the
Pantanal--the Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus).
South from Cuiaba, the first 100km of paved roads passes disturbed cerrado
(a Brazilian term for open, short woodland) vegetation, gallery forest, and
a tall cerrado forest. After another 17 miles of dirt road from Pocone, we
reach the beginning of the Transpantaneira, a raised dirt highway that is
150km long, with138 wooden bridges that took the Brazilian government more
than ten years to build. The end of the highway brings travelers to a
fishing village and a hotel.
Our first stop on the Transpantaneira, about 45km in, is at the "Rio
Pixaim," a hotel on the water's edge where we spent the night. From there
we took a short motorboat ride to see some engaging Giant River Otters, and
of course, more bird life.
Then we were off to our destination, a modest ranch-hotel in the richest
area of the Pantanal. This ranch-hotel is the only one wholly owned and
operated by "Pantaneiros," the local Pantanal cowboys.
The farmer's land surrounding the hotel hosts the largest concentration of
Hyacinth Macaws where there is easy year-round access by road. From the
dinner table at the ranch you can see, and of course hear, the Hyacinthine
Macaws as they fly overhead on their way to the palms for their breakfast
and dinner. These palms are just a few hundred feet away from the ranch, so
this provides a terrific view of some of these rare parrots.
In all my other sightings of Macaws in the wild they all seemed to fly from
one site to another by the most direct route. But here for the first time I
saw Macaws just soaring. On three different occasions, early in the
morning, I watched two pairs of Hyacinthine Macaws floating with the air
currents over the ranch, so high at times you could just make them out. It
was quite obvious that they were just flying for the sheer fun of flying.
A short drive from the ranch along a road that led into another ranch was
what proved to be the best area for viewing the Hyacinthine. We always saw
at least 20 to 50 of these magnificent parrots at this location. What I
noticed first was how inquisitive these birds were about us. They made a
special point of flying right over the top of us and you could see them
turn their heads to the side like macaws do when they want to really
concentrate on something. It was quite apparent that they were as
interested in seeing us as we were in seeing them. (Do you suppose they
have a North American Visitors' Project?)
The Hyacinthine Macaws in this area eat only one food, the nuts of the
Acuri Palm trees. This solo diet makes habitat conservation even more
critical.
One of the other spectacular sites in the Pantanal is the large
concentration of Caimans, hundreds and hundreds right along the road, and
of course, under those wooden bridges. After saying our goodbyes to the
Hyacinthine, and our hosts at the ranch, it was back up the Transpantaniera
across a 100 or so wooden bridges and back to Cuiaba for our flight to
Santa Cruz and on to the next macaws.
From Santa Cruz, we caught a flight to the city of Trinidad, Bolivia, where
we took a three-hour-plus ride in our ground transportation to the home of
the Blue-Throated Macaws (Ara glaucogularis). Trinidad is located in the
Llanos de Moxos of central northern Bolivia. The Llanos de Moxos is an area
about the size of New York State. Like the Pantanal of Brazil, it is very
flat, seasonally flooded, with all of the wildlife of the Pantanal, except
the Hyacinth Macaw. But, unlike the Pantanal, it has Pink River Dolphins!
Upon arriving at the cow station that was to be home for a few days, we
were off to the "palm island," as they are called, to see the incredibly
rare Blue-Throated Macaw, of which about 120 are known in the wild. This
macaw is only found in the state of Llanos de Moxos. The area is mostly
grasslands, that the ranchers burn constantly during the dry season, May
through September, to provide better grass for the cattle grazed there.
Palm islands are just a little higher in elevation than the surrounding
grassland, allowing the palms to grow because they are above the flood
waters. Other palm islands can be seen as we drive out to the one that is a
known nest site for a pair of Blue-Throated Macaws, who had a baby flying
with them. Because they had the baby with them, they were very skittish and
would fly off if they heard us or we got to close. But, we were able to
view this pair on several occasions and did manage to get a few pictures.
We observed the Blue-Throated Macaws eating the outside pulp or "mesocarp"
surrounding the palm nuts. This palm island was an area of approximately
five acres, with just the one current nest site. A pair of Blue and Golds
(Ara ararauna) had moved in and were guarding the cavity, not very good
news for the Blue-Throated as they will surely lose this nest site in the
future. This is probably one of the reasons the Blue-Throated macaws are so
rare. They are about two-thirds the size of the Blue and Golds, so they can
be driven off quite easily. Each time on arriving at the island we checked
on the Blue and Gold Macaws and they were always on top of the nest tree or
on an adjacent palm watching the nest tree. They would not be ready to nest
for several more months, but like all macaws, once they have found a nest
site will do every thing they can to hold on to it.
Each time we entered the palm island we also viewed a flock of Severe
Macaws (Ara severa) who had six babies with them. The babies would always
be squawking and flapping their wings trying to get the parents to feed
them. We also had the opportunity to meet a Bolivian named Fellman, a
former bird trapper who now works for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
His job now is to protect these very rare and beautiful birds.
This island was scheduled to be cut down so the owner of the ranch could
grow bananas, but thanks to Charlie Munn's project, the island remains as
an area for Macaws. Recently some cabanas were constructed for tourists to
stay in, along a small tributary of the Mamora River where you can see Pink
River Dolphins.
One of the other spectacular sites in this area is a nearby lake, where you
can view thousands of fish-eating birds, such as Herons, Egrets, Spoonbills
and Jabiru Storks. This is what our planet must have been like tens of
thousands of years ago. Such an abundance of wildlife is absolutely
incredible.
The idea behind these projects is to promote ecotourism as a means of
supporting the conservation projects for these very rare and beautiful
macaws. To date, Dr. Munn and his work with other groups has been
successful in setting aside approximately 15 million acres for wildlife
habitat in South America. If you are interested in helping Dr. Munn with
financial support for these or other projects or in making a trip to see
the Hyacinthine in the Pantanal or the Blue-Throated in Bolivia, send me an
E-mail, and I will provide you with the necessary information. You'll
benefit from an enriching experience and so will the birds!