Field and General Reports

Report from Curu Wildlife Refuge

July 2004
Sheirys Jimenez - Biologist and Regente

A Hope for Costa Rican Naturea

Approximately twenty years ago the dream of some Americans began to gestate. "To create in captivity Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao) for their reintroduction into nature."

The work was not easy, the macaws reproduce after five to seven years, and it was a long wait until blissfully the birds began to show their fruits. Some of the inexperience of the birds, made this couple of Americans, decide to feed them by hand and maintain them in incubators and to feed them every two hours. This didn't allow much rest but the dream began to take form.

After problems and setbacks, they made the first liberations in the county of Guanacaste, specifically in the Refuge of Vida Silvestre CURÚ. Making sure all the recommended veterinary exams, including blood, where carried out, to be sure that there would not be any problems to the other wildlife where the birds would be liberated.

To be able to make these liberations it was necessary to begin a series of works to adapt the birds to their life of freedom.

The birds were moved to a specially built aviary, where they were feed specifically with fruits of the area including " the almond tree" and we continued giving a small amount of sunflower seeds once a day at 3.30pm to accustom the birds that every day they would receive this small portion of feed and therefore, when they were free, they would return for the sunflowers and could be monitored for information and health.

There were initial complications, the birds had signs of " a cold" and it was necessary to prescribe medication for them. The presence of other animals such as the monkeys, caused them fear. Little by little they got used to the noises of the nature and also the animals that they would have to cohabit… .after a lingering time, it arrived the hour of their liberation and again problems are detected that should be taken into account for the future liberations. Inside the aviaries where they had been housed, the birds had adapted to their conditions, the perches were fixed, whereas being in freedom and to settle on the mobile branches of the trees they got scared. This made us put up mobile branches in the aviaries of the birds to be liberated. "Every day we learned something."

It had been triumphed with the measure of the sunflower seeds, the birds returned for their favourite food, but another error was also recognized, these macaws had been fed by hand and therefore they didn't fear humans. This could be a great error as they could be at the mercy of the hunters and it was necessary to minimise contact with humans, to demonstrate that man was his worst enemy.

The years passed and the macaws continued returning for their sunflower seeds, and we have another release site and a new adventure in Punta Pavones of Gulf, in a well-known place as TISKITA, where an American has lands and a beautiful hotel allowing us to have the volunteers, that make the necessary observations.

In this liberation already many of the errors that were made first time, have been eliminated and at the moment the group consists of 21 macaws that cross the skies and six more that they are in the pre release aviary while waiting for their freedom.

A dream come true

In the month of August we received great news from CURU, two Scarlet Macaws are arriving with their group for the sunflower seeds.

Have we proved the program works, two juvenile macaws flying with the group?

How they are recognized?

1. they are not rung and all the other birds are.
2. their face is more stylized than that of the others.
3. the color in the eyes presents a grey colour characteristic of the macaws up to twelve months.
4. the feathers of the head still rise with a lot of easiness.
5. the part around the eye are flat.

All this, joined together with the fact that, other macaws don't exist free in the surrounding area of CURÚ allows us to say. "We triumphed" The dream was made reality, the effort of Richard and Margot Frisius who have faced this titanic feat in solitary form without state help, maintaining 300 macaws at this time, both scarlet and great green, and many other birds that the MINAE puts high in its protection.

My respects and admiration for this couple of Americans that have fought during almost twenty years to help to our nature in Costa Rica, to return to our skies the birds that we ourselves in Costa Rica have not been known to protect.

The Status of Two Juveniles

Upon a short visit to Curu during the first week in September - two Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) juvenile birds were noted. They were approximately 6-7 months of age. The juveniles were first noted in July and markings showed they were approximately 4-5 months at this stage and so must have been hatched at the end of March beginning of April.

Amigos de las Aves did not have any volunteers in Curu during this time and therefore monitoring for this period was not available.

Whilst trying to determine the parentage of these birds I concluded that the most likely parents were a female of nine years and a male of eight years. Both birds non related. This pair has been particularly difficult to follow and are known to fly further distances and tend not to spend much time in the immediate vicinity of the feeding station and are very independent.

The other possibility of a bonded pair would seem more unlikely, as this pair has been monitored at various nest sites during the past year or two and no youngsters have been recorded.

The youngsters showed a slightly closer bond to the 'first pair' whilst at the feed station, eating with the female, but were noted 'talking' and 'squabbling' with both pairs. The youngsters have a handful of sunflower seeds available at approximate 3.30 pm each day and they tend to take longer to eat than the adult birds. Both birds are defensive when eating, especially towards the single adult birds.

At this stage they were noted flying - and are not yet fully practiced at landing yet. They display typical 'juvenile' behaviour and are always together.

The juveniles are both well, although one is 'scruffier' than the other.

January - February 2005
Lindell Andrews

Curu Release Site Assessment Report

In 1999, Amigos de las Aves released thirteen scarlet macaws (Ara macao) into the habitats of Curú Hacienda and National Wildlife Refuge, a private reserve on the Peninsula de Nicoya, Costa Rica.

From January 13 to February 17 2005, Amigos de las Aves sent their biologist, Dale Forbes, and volunteers to Curú to undertake a short, but intensive, survey of the released macaws, their behaviours, diet and habitats. Monitoring of the resident population was achieved by transversing the property on foot throughout the day and by attending the sunflower feed each afternoon. All encounters with macaws were recorded, whether they be visual or auditory. Observations from volunteers working on other projects at Curú were also recorded in order to gain a more detailed picture of the macaws' movements.

Nine birds are currently regularly seen within the property boundaries of Curú, these being:

• Pair A
• Pair B
• Pair C
• Juveniles x 2
• Adult male Z

A tenth bird, male Z, was seen on two consecutive days only (Feb 13-14), feeding at the sunflower feed station for less than ten minutes on each of these occasions.

The two juveniles, born last year, continue to do well, and spend much of their time with male Z, or with their suspected parents pair C. In appearance, they are very similar to the adult macaws, but they are more playful in flight, and are far noisier.

The general daily movements of the macaws were known following the five weeks of survey.

All birds exhibit brilliant plumage, an indication of the excellent condition they appear to be in. The wild food supply at Curú is presently abundant and varied, resulting in the macaws spending very little time at the sunflower seed station, although all ten birds were recorded at the feed station at some time during the five week monitoring period. At this time of the year, immediately following the wet season, the macaws feed primarily on the seeds of the beach almonds and the young, green coconuts of the coco palm. A complete list of recorded food species for this monitoring period are listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Food species consumed by scarlet macaws during the intensive monitoring period.

• Beach almond
• Coco palm
• Wild cashew
• Rain tree
• Flamboyant tree
• African oil palm
• Royal palm
• White mangrove
• Ceiba
• Ceiba
• Balsa
• Guacimo
• Savanna oak
• Pochote tree
• Carao
• Mango

The scarlet macaws were also recorded chewing at the lichen present on the branches of the Rhizophora mangrove.

All three of the adult pairs displayed courtship and mating behaviours throughout the study period. Pair A were the most advanced in these displays, and are known to have selected a natural cavity in a Rhizophora mangle, not far from the sunflower feed station. Observed behaviours strongly suggest that eggs were laid in this cavity, but unfortunately the nest was abandoned following suspected predation on the eggs by a ctenosaur on February 7, after just over two weeks of incubation. Courtship behaviours, such as allofeeding and allopreening, and mating were noted in the remaining two adult pairs. The investigation of varying nesting cavities was observed, but no site fidelity was seen during the study period. It is, however, still early in the breeding season. A search of the property revealed many natural nesting cavities in a variety of different trees and within different habitats. The birds do not appear to be interested in the artificial nest boxes erected throughout the property, many of which have been invaded by bees or wasps.

Curu has proven to be an ideal release site for the scarlet macaw. There is an abundance of varying food species in a variety of habitats, all of which the birds have adapted to; and a large number of natural nesting cavities, eliminating the need for artificial nest boxes, and subsequent easy identification of nesting sites. The Schutt family are highly supportive of the release program, and are active in the education of the local community, the promotion of wildlife to national and international visitors, and the conservation of the wildlife of Costa Rica. Problems still exist, and these are in the process of being addressed, but there is no reason why further releases of macaws could no proceed, ensuring the long-term viability of a scarlet macaw population in the region.

September 2006 & January 2007
Ilona Thewissen BSc

September 2006

The macaws in Curu were observed for 3 days in September 2006. They appeared to be spending most of the day in a flock of about 5 to 9 macaws. In the early afternoon 5 of them were foraging in the fields near the release site. They were seen feeding on Teak. 9 Macaws came to the release site between 2 and 3 pm (feeding time) where they socialized and fed on the sunflower seeds. Among them was one macaw without a ring, presumably one of the two young that successfully fledged. It was feeding and flying around with two other macaws, probably the parents, but it already looked quite independent. After about 45 minutes in the release site all 9 flew into the mangrove area and some were seen feeding on Tropical Almonds. All macaws that were seen seemed to be in excellent health.

January 2007

The macaws in Curu were observed in January 2007. The release site was automatically checked for macaws at about 3 pm. None were seen. Sunflower seeds do not seem to be given out for the macaws regularly anymore. Around roosting time, on one single day, a solo macaw was flying above the mangrove area, calling. A few minutes later 3 macaws flew over the mangrove area.

On one morning it was noted at about 10 am a macaw flew into the fields at exactly the same site where 5 of the macaws were seen in January 2006. The bird sat in a palm tree calling loudly for about 30 minutes when it was joined by a pair. They were the same sub-flock of three that were seen around roosting time the previous day. All three of them had rings. Shortly after the pair flew in and joined the single macaw, another pair flew in and chased off the original 3 macaws who then flew over different palm trees. The pair that had just flewn in, then fed on Oil Palm seeds. It seems like these 5 macaws go to this particular site in the fields very regularly because the behavior (waiting, calling, flying in etc.) was very routine-like and they all flew into the sight around the same time.

At this particular visit in January 2007 only 5 macaws were seen. The rumor about new young could not be verified. According to Frederico Schutz there is no evidence that he is aware of.

May 2007

Movement patterns & social behavior

I encountered 7 of the macaws in Curù, displaying similar daily movement patterns to my previous visits. The macaws spend a lot of time near the release site and in the Curù valley roost near the beach.

During the day they can be seen in the pastures in the middle of the valley. Towards sunflower feeding time they slowly make their way to the feeding station back towards the beach again.

I noted pairs at the feeding station around 2:45 PM on one particular day, and this was followed by another pair that flew over towards the beach, followed by a single macaw. Sunflower seeds are still put out for the macaws in Curù,

The macaws were seen foraging on Guacimo (Guazuma ulmifolia), Mango (Mangifera indica), Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis), Teak (Tectonis grandis) and Tropical Almond (Terminalia catappa). They appear to be in good health.

Since the past dry season there are fewer macaws around Curù, because until August there is plenty of fruit and seeds to forage on in the ridges more inaccessible to humans bordering Curù. From August to October the macaws visit the feeding station more often, because trees are less productive.

There has been no signs of breeding pairs this past year, and no activity noted around trees that could indicate possible nesting sites.