Toa Kyle

Three’s a crowd

Sep 28, 2006

I’m back for a quick stopover in town.  Things are proceeding well in the field.  We’ve now got three active nests and another five that are being guarded.  Our first nest with chicks is one to remember.  When I first climbed it to perform health checks for the nestlings I was surprised to find...

First active nest

Sep 13, 2006

Good news.  We’ve got our first active nests of the season already.  One is a palm snag I climbed the other day to put in a drain hole.  The nest has an open crown (ie. no roof) and is thus prone to flooding.  Last year we lost at least three nests due to flooding during the incubation stage so...

Killer bees

Aug 21, 2006

Back from my first stint in the field getting things set up for the coming months.  We set up six nest boxes, mainly choosing forest islands where nests failed last year (due mostly to low quality nests in those areas).  Now the waiting game begins.  Will any of these boxes have Blue-throat chicks...

Start of the new field season

Aug 12, 2006

Trinidad, Beni, Bolivia

Welcome to a running diary I’ll be keeping this field season for the World Parrot Trust Blue-throated Macaw nesting study.  This species has the unenviable distinction of being the most endangered macaw in the wild.  If you want to get some background on Blue-throats you...