Paso Pacífico

Possum vs. Opossum: Same animal?

Possum vs. opossum? Aren’t they different spellings of the same word? Many non-native English speakers struggle with telling the 2 species apart. This is mainly because the word “possum” is often used in American colloquial conversation as an abbreviation for “opossum.” Despite the confusion, they’re very different animals. Paso Pacifico will take you through the finer details between these two distinct species. We’ll also help you understand their behavioral and...

Fascinating Facts About the Scarlet Macaw

When you think about parrots, you’re probably picturing the scarlet macaw with its brilliant red plumage, bright blue and yellow feathers, and creamy white face. Intelligent, sociable, and stunningly beautiful, it is the world’s most famous parrot species. Aside from being frequently featured in TV shows and films, the scarlet macaw plays an important role in our ecosystem. For one, this neotropical parrot distributes seeds throughout its vast Central and...

QCDs: Pay Less Taxes. Help the Planet

Are you a retired individual with a tax-deferred Individual Retirement Account (IRA)? Once you reach a certain age, you’re required to start withdrawing money from your IRA. The additional income you receive can push you into a higher tax bracket, which means you’ll have to pay more taxes. This can have a significant impact on your net income. Because of this, many retirees opt to donate the money (all or...

Different Types of Forests

Forests are the lungs of our planet and make up 31% of the world’s land area. They also come in diverse forms, each with unique ecosystems that provide a sanctuary for a large number of birds and animals, many of them endangered. They’re also home to more than 80% of terrestrial species and absorb roughly 15.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually.Along the Pacific coast of Central America, these ecosystems...

Help Sea Turtle Conservation in El Salvador

The sea turtle is one of North America’s most treasured species. People often pay huge amounts on excursions to witness these creatures in their natural habitat, swimming among coral reefs in the middle of stark blue seas. There are currently seven sea or marine turtle species in existence: Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Leatherback, Olive ridley, Green, Flatback, and Kemp's ridley. Most of them can live up to 100 years. However, it is...

Why Are Jaguarundis Endangered?

When you think about the wild cats of the Americas, the cougar and jaguar are the stars of the show. Even though these large predatory cats are iconic in their own right, they take attention away from the rest of the New World’s felid guild. A wide array of small and medium-sized cats stalk the forests of North, Central, and South America. Among these lesser-known wildcats, the jaguarundi stands out...

Black-Handed Spider Monkeys (Facts)

Central America has a diverse array of dazzling landscapes and biospheres. Its lush rainforests and montane forests are home to a charismatic primate that has become an icon of Central American wildlife, the black-handed spider monkey. The black-handed spider monkey is one of the seven species of spider monkeys found in Central and South America. These curious and charismatic primates can be seen swinging through the treetops, congregating noisily, and...

What To Do if You Encounter a Sea Turtle

In the sea and on land, sea turtles are some of the most majestic creatures on our beautiful planet. Witnessing a sea turtle swimming through open blue waters, foraging through busy coral reefs, or just basking on white sand beaches is one of the most amazing ecotourism adventures you will ever experience. If you’ve added “encounter a sea turtle” to your bucket list, not many places will offer you the...

Greater Grison: The Mysterious Mustelid

When you think of Central and South American wildlife, you’re probably picturing iconic species of the rainforest like jaguars and anacondas. These large and impressive predators are the main attractions for wildlife tourism in the region, but they wouldn’t be there without a thriving, healthy ecosystem. The web of life that holds up those ecosystems is supported by hundreds of other species. If we want to protect and view megafauna...

Are Jaguars Endangered?

Few animals embody the wild and beautiful nature of the neotropical jungle like the jaguar. This apex predator is an icon of the Mesoamerican and Amazon forests and can be found in 18 countries across Central and South America. Some species are so charismatic, fascinating, and frightening to local people that they become more than just wildlife. They become part of native storytelling. Jaguars enjoy that lofty position, but with...

Facts About Humpback Whales

The planet’s oceans are teeming with fascinating creatures but few capture our imaginations as whales have. These gentle giants travel great distances each year and can be found in all of the world’s oceans. The sight of a massive whale breaching the surface is breathtaking whether you’re seeing it on video or firsthand. One species of whale known for this breaching behavior is the humpback whale. The species’ history can...

How Christmas Cheer Is Rooted in the Wild

Each holiday season, poinsettias adorn our homes, workplaces, and parties with their vibrant red and green leaves. They are the world's most economically important potted plant, and our holidays are more joyful thanks to this gift from the forest. Here are some ways that wild populations of undomesticated poinsettias play a crucial role in protecting both the species, the poinsettia industry, and our holiday season: Genetic diversity: Wild poinsettias harbor a...

An Overview of Wildlife Corridors

by Nicholas Bridgman At Paso Pacífico, we talk a lot about wildlife corridors like the Paso del Istmo Wildlife Corridor. What is a wildlife corridor? A wildlife corridor is a network of larger areas of wildlife habitat linked by another passage of habitat. Its goal is to counteract habitat fragmentation, a main cause of biodiversity decline. Fragmentation, such as by human development, leads to smaller and smaller islands being created,...

Happy Bat Month!

The great false vampire bat (Vampyrum spectrum) is the largest bat in the New World, and the largest carnivorous bat in the world. It can look scary when its wings are extended. Kim Williams-Guillen and Merlin Tuttle hold a great false vampire bat Notice the word “false”? Because this bat doesn't suck blood, it’s not a true vampire bat. But it is carnivorous, which means that it can eat a LOT of...

Press Release: Machete Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Sarah Otterstrom Phone: +1-805-643-7044 Email: sarah@pasopacifico.org Paso Pacífico Commits to Launch Machete Project for Forest Restoration A youth-led, farmer-centered solution to address climate change New York, New York, Sept. 22, 2023 Paso Pacífico and its partners announced a Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2023 Meeting. Paso Pacífico will launch its open-source digital platform, the Machete Project, to catalyze forest restoration by connecting 300,000 youth with...

Two black Paso Pacifico pens by Dayspring Pens in a white and gray gift box

A Donation of Luxury Pens

Guest post by Dayspring Pens Dayspring Pens is proud to partner with Paso Pacífico through a donation of 40 engraved pens. It is an honor to be able to donate to an organization that works so diligently to protect and restore the endangered dry tropical forest and coastal ecosystems of Mesoamerica’s Pacific Slope. Paso Pacífico works with local communities, landowners, and partner organizations to address the most urgent conservation needs...

World Ocean Day Is Coming!

Have you heard of World Ocean Day? World Ocean Day is a global day to dedicated to the ocean, climate conservation, and activism. It was originally proposed by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The United Nations General Assembly officially recognized June 8th as World Oceans Day in 2008 after a four-year petition drive and years of groups holding events to promote the movement. World...

Press Release with SoftServe

Press Release: SoftServe and Paso Pacífico to Deliver a Digital Platform for Tropical Forest Restoration SoftServe supports the non-profit Paso Pacifico to develop a digital platform to slow climate change through tropical forest restoration in Central America. The project has started within Open Tech, SoftServe’s corporate pro bono program, where the company’s associates volunteer to deliver tech solutions for communities. Carbon emission is one of the primary drivers of climate...

Fotografía de Daniel Boyano S. Humpback whale tail in Los Cobanos, El Salvador. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, posted by Flickr user zambomba.

I Monitored Humpback Whales!

Guest post by Paso Pacífico volunteer Ula Leavitt. In early 2023, Ula traveled to Playa Los Cóbanos, El Salvador on our behalf to participate in humpback whale research with Proyecto Megaptera. Their research is being carried out in partnership with The Society for Marine Mammalogy, Panacetacea, PRIMMA/UABCS, IDEA WILD, La Orca de Sayulita, Fundación Naturaleza El Salvador, Bar Ballena and Ministerio de Medio Ambiente. I am a 16 year old...

Pochote Oyster Update!

Oysters keep the oceans healthy. They filter up to 50 gallons of ocean water a day and form banks with their shells, giving habitat and protection! Without them, seawater is more polluted, coasts erode more easily, and there is less habitat for sea life. With your support and with generous funding from the PRBB Foundation, the oyster cooperative in the village of Pochote has made great strides for oysters and more. The aim...

Surfing in El Salvador's Wild East Oriente Salvaje, photo by Javier Alejandro Ramos Arias

A Tale of Two (Surf) Cities

By Jason G. Goldman Later this month, more than 250 surfers from 52 nations will take to the waters of El Salvador to compete in the 2021 Surf City El Salvador ISA World Surfing Games. Meeting in the town of El Tunco, around 80 kilometers east of Los Cobanos on El Salvador's Pacific Coast, the athletes will compete for the twelve remaining slots available for competition at the Tokyo 2020...

The Global “City Nature Challenge”

By Jason G. Goldman When Lila Higgins first had the idea to pit Los Angeles against San Francisco in a race to see which city could generate the most biodiversity data in just eight days, she had no idea it would spawn a global movement. The year was 2016, and the Obama White House had declared April 16 of that year as "Citizen Science Day." Higgins, the Senior Director of...

This Machete Grows Trees!

In Central America, some farmers use machetes to plant "living fences" and assist forest regrowth. There is significant potential for mass forest regrowth efforts using their techniques, but this information is hard to find. Today, you can fund the pilot project that will gather this information, design easy instructions and pilot this program to 1000 farmers so they can grow 20,000 trees. Until 11:59 pm EDT on Friday, April 23,...

Big Cats

By Jason G. Goldman Biologist Miguel Ordeñana crouches down in the shade of a forest and reaches into his pack for a small bottle. He sprays the substance on a tree just a few feet above the ground. A few meters away behind him is a camera trap he's deployed. The liquid he's spraying is a cologne called Calvin Klein Obsession for Men and if he's lucky, the scent will...

Marcos Calero delivers incentives to a family of parrot protectors in front of the parrot-adorned truck funded by Loro Parque Fundacion.

Partnering for Parrots

By Jason G. Goldman The writing was on the wall more than a decade ago, or at least it seemed to be. Though the species was classified as one of "least concern" by the IUCN, yellow-naped amazon parrots were struggling in the Paso del Istmo region of Nicaragua. The green-feathered birds sport patches of red on their wingtips and are named for the yellow on top of their necks. A...

View of San Salvador. Photo by Sarah Otterstrom.

Urban Parrots of San Salvador

By Jason G. Goldman The world lurched to a standstill in the spring of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic infiltrated nearly every corner of the planet. But while our daily lives slowed and changed, the rest of the natural world kept plodding on, almost oblivious to the fear and angst gripping human communities. Spending all that time at home, many people began looking out their windows or going on long...

Decoy Eggs

By Jason G. Goldman As the sun sets on the beaches of Costa Rica's Pacific coastline, a man walks along looking for comma-shaped scoop marks in the sand, the telltale sign of a nesting sea turtle. He follows a set of tracks from the water's edge until they stop. That's where he starts digging. Eventually, he uncovers a hundred or more leathery eggs, each the size of a ping-pong ball....

Willow flycatcher, photo by Oswaldo Saballos

Save an Endangered Willow Flycatcher

Every winter, the willow flycatcher travels from the U.S. to Central America for the season. Five years ago, we began studying the bird's habitat use in Nicaragua. What we learned was surprising! The birds return each year to nearly the same location. These small flycatchers prefer scrubby vegetation near water. Sadly, these are areas most frequently burned or cleared by farmers. Will you help save one willow flycatcher? Your donation...

Making Way for Monkeys

By Jason G. Goldman This is the third article in a three-part series on connectivity. Click here to read part one: “Coexistence, Not Corrals” and click here to read part two: “Building Bridges – Literally.” Once upon a time, an animal that was sufficiently motivated could safely travel the 2500 miles from the forests of southern Mexico through Central America to wind up safely in Colombia. The so-called Mesoamerican land corridor is still...

Building Bridges — Literally

By Jason G. Goldman This is the second article in a three-part series on connectivity. Click here to read part one: "Coexistence, Not Corrals" and click here to read part three: "Making Way for Monkeys." The natural world is being carved and sliced into smaller and smaller parcels. Forests and grasslands and deserts are becoming like individually wrapped fun-size candy bars of nature, each with its own fragmented community of wild plants and...

Coexistence, Not Corrals

By Jason G. Goldman This is the first article in a three-part series on connectivity. It was the first of March, 1872, when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law. With his signature, the nation's first national park was officially born. It's hard to say exactly where the idea for a national park came from, but the origins of Yellowstone seem to lie in...

Black-handed spider monkey. Photo by Phil Torres.

Baby Spider Monkeys Need You

This year’s pandemic is causing extra poaching for the pet trade in Central America. Endangered baby spider monkeys are now much more likely to be stolen from their mothers and sold into a life of captivity. But there’s good news: you can help! Giving Tuesday officially kicks off the holiday giving season. Will you please send a year-end gift today to protect at least one baby spider monkey during the...

Raptor Counting

By Jason G. Goldman Every year, millions of birds of prey migrate from summertime breeding grounds in North America to overwintering grounds in South America. One section of their pathway stretches nearly 2500 miles between central Texas and northwestern Colombia’s Chocó rainforests and is known as the Mesoamerican Land Corridor. More than five million raptors – the family of birds that includes vultures, hawks, eagles, and owls – can be...

The InvestEGGator works!

By placing 3D-printed and GPS-enabled decoy sea turtle eggs into nests on the beach, it’s possible to gather key evidence needed to expose rampant illegal trade of the eggs, suggests a study publishing in the journal Current Biology on October 5. The researchers specifically tested how well the decoy eggs work and their safety for the endangered turtles. “Our research showed that placing a decoy into a turtle nest did...

Get Your Gift Matched for Macaws

Join the cyanoptera macaws' fight for survival! Fewer than 20 of these birds are left in Nicaragua. Nesting season is coming, and their babies are hot on the black market. They need YOU to survive in the wild. Until 9 p.m. Pacific time on September 18, 2020, your donation to our GlobalGiving campaign will be partially matched. Your gift will make it possible for us and our partners to save...

Thank You for 15 Years!

This month, we are celebrating our 15th anniversary. Wow! Our supporters have made possible a journey full of impact for endangered species, communities, and the future of the "corredor seco" region of Central America, where conservation investments have been historically very limited. We feel proud to say we are there, and our commitment is solid. From ridge to reef, from Nicaragua to California, from fishers to Junior Rangers, we say—Thank you for...

Nicaragua’s Nature Stewards

Earth Day turns 50 this year. In its honor, we invite you to make a gift supporting education for 93 children in Nicaragua. From April 20-24, your gifts under $500 will be matched at 50% by Global Giving! Our Junior Ranger program helps children ages 8-13 learn how to save nature this year in the rural areas where they live. Nicaragua's amazing biodiversity and landscapes have been significantly damaged, and these...

Help Fight COVID-19 in Central America

Local communities are critical partners in our mission, and they are now under threat. Nearly 700 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Central America. El Salvador is completely locked down. In Nicaragua, almost no COVID-19 mitigation measures have been taken and food prices have doubled. We anticipate both food shortages and high rates of infection very soon, which means the most vulnerable people will starve as this pandemic hits...

Discover Your Power

Saving the planet requires millions of parts to be successful. You are needed. As a supporter of Paso Pacífico, you are already playing a part — but do you know how to multiply your efforts? Discover your power using the steps below! 1. Share Share our social media posts and e-newsletters, as well as the experiences you’ve had—why you have saved nature through Paso Pacífico. Have you lived in Central America...

Flying Into New Conservation Efforts

Since the beginning of time, migratory birds have fascinated and inspired humans. They represented the renewal of life in ancient Greece, and in the Bible, they are symbols of peace and hope. To Native Americans, migratory birds symbolize concepts of unity, freedom, safe return, love, and the celebration of life. Today in almost all cultures, the flight of birds is connected to the ideas of lightness, freedom, harmony, and the...

Proyecto Noble

Proyecto Noble—Salud y Educación helps support more than 2500 local schoolchildren across 25 rural schools in the Paso del Istmo Biological Corridor with educational supplies and nutritious school lunches. This project also helped build the Ostional Library, supports its full-time librarian, Anabel Chevez, and stocks the library with high-quality books. Moreover, it has been helping rural communities recover from last fall's major floods, which were caused by Hurricane Nate. Thanks...

The Great California Oyster Tour

I recently had the pleasure of spending a week in the company of Angelica and Antonia, who are from our Women's Oyster Cooperative in Ostional, Nicaragua. I also met Yorlin Vargas, a Paso Pacifico ranger who works a lot with the cooperative. Before I met them at Carlsbad Aquafarm, they spent time on Catalina Island and with experts at USC Wrigley Insitute, where they learned about new oyster husbandry techniques...

Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchlings at Refugio Vida Silvestre La Flor. Playa La Flor, Nicaragua. © Hal Brindley .com

We Won WCTC’s Acceleration Prize!

In 2015, our new GPS-enabled artificial egg technology was one of 16 Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge winners. From there, these eggs—now called InvestEGGators—competed with the other winning projects for three Acceleration Prizes, which would be awarded to those who made "truly remarkable progress in turning promising ideas into viable solutions positioned for scale and impact on the ground." We are thrilled to announce that we won an Acceleration Prize! Our...

When Fishers Protect the Ocean

Many of you may know that La Flor Wildlife Refuge is globally recognized for its important Olive Ridley sea turtle nesting beach. However, the marine protected area of 20,000 acres (7875 ha) is of equal importance to marine biodiversity. The area provides valuable habitat for juvenile hawksbill sea turtles and overwintering humpback whales from both North and South America. Some of the highest diversity in soft corals and echinoderms are...

A 20-year Milestone for the Cyanoptera Macaw

Nicaragua is losing one of its most iconic and colorful species – the Cyanoptera macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera). This subspecies of the scarlet macaw has a distinctive wing pattern and is critically endangered: by 2015, Nicaragua's population had dwindled to a mere 14 birds! So, with support from Loro Parque Fundación, the Brandywine Zoo, Projets Plus Action, and individual donors, Paso Pacifico has been working to rescue these macaws from the...

The ELLAS Initiative Concludes

"I feel empowered, and now I look at myself as an entrepreneur. We went from informality to having vision . . . Aspiring is not only believing in dreams, it is changing one’s attitude to see the changes." - Sonia, hostel owner, ELLAS Initiative In 2011, we had a vision: to empower female "enviropreneurs" to harness market forces and employ voluntary solutions to environmental problems in their local communities. Then, with...

La Reserva Mono Bayo

We are thrilled to share a major breakthrough here on the blog! Recently we were awarded a significant grant from the IUCN-Netherlands, and that means we will be able to complete the purchase of a beautiful forest area in the heart of the Paso del Istmo. In honor of the critically endangered black-handed spider monkeys that live there, we’ve named this 120-acre property the Mono Bayo Reserve. This forest is...

Author: Paso Pacífico