The project has grown and now we are ten strong. They include people from England, Wales, the USA and Portugal and it’s a crazy time. The aim of having lots of people here is so we can cover a large amount of the island and search for nests. It works too. We have another 15 locations where birds have been seen going in and out of cavities. Of course nothing is confirmed until there are eggs but it is very exciting. There are also a further 10 or so locations which are of a high priority for further observations.
In the morning we are all out in the field in different locations watching for parrots and seeing what they are getting up to. We are looking for nest prospecting and any other clue the birds are getting in the mood. The volunteers have come out around the time the birds started breeding last year but it seems the parrots are a little later this year so it isn’t all that easy to pin down particular pairs and be sure of what their intentions are.
The logistics are a nightmare and I’ve become rudely aware how much work managing a team of people can be. The team is accommodated in three houses which are about as separate as they could be on this island. We have three cars and twice a day we have to get everybody into different areas of the island using the least amount of fuel we can and wasting as little time as possible, phew!
The afternoons have been spent doing a variety of other activities as the parrots are much less consistent at that time. So the parrot team have been learning plant species and then using their new found knowledge to conduct feeding observations. All good ecological training! We’ve been to a random selection of cliffs and searched them for cavities too. We then measure the holes and will allow me to define the parrots cavity preferences because I’ll then be able to look at used verses unused sites. It’s not all work though and we do allow the team to have some day off to enjoy Bonaire!
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