H


ello from Costa Rica. The scarlet macaw nesting season ends in about 6 weeks with the four nests


timed so that chicks are fledging between the end of March and middle June. This has been important for taping nesting and so the public can observe the nesting cycle. On May 3, I will be talking with about 60 third and fourth graders from a local public school who have been using the scarlet macaw colouring books whose publication you helped fund in the past and been studying the nesting cycle from their school on TV screens (remember we have video cameras in the four nests).


26 BIRD SCENE


This has received several thousand hits from many countries. Then we bus the school children into


the tourist resort protecting the nests. Former macaw poachers who work with me will lower the chicks so the children can see them. Most have been given names by the children during the camera observations. Neat, eh?? These children are our macaw stewards. Scarlet macaw numbers are in danger


due to poaching for the pet trade and destruction of habitat. These huge, colourful birds require large, old trees to build their nests in. Their nesting trees have become quite scarce as development


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