EnglishOur parrot video is now available in English!
Please watch our video addressing the issue of poaching parrots in Nicaragua.
Once abundant in tropical forests, the Yellow-naped parrot (Lora Nuca Amarillo in Spanish) is increasingly rare in Nicaragua, where habitat destruction and poaching have reduced its numbers rapidly.
Poachers are often young rural farmers who climb over 15 meters into trees or chop down trees to take parrot chicks out of their nests. Yellow-naped parrots only have one clutch per year (usually just one to three eggs), and are monogamous, so if they lose their mate, they are out of luck for the rest of their lives.
In addition to environmental education which helps children understand the importance of the species they share the forest with, we’re currently caring for orphan parrot fledglings. These parrots were confiscated by the army near the border of Costa Rica, where the poachers were presumably taking them to sell. We are advising the army on the care of the parrot chicks until the Ministry of Environment authorities decide what to do about them.
At Paso Pacifico, in addition to working with donors, government entities, and other NGOs, we also work with private landowners to foster cooperation and habitat-friendly farming and planting and land-use practices.
Especially when working with home and hotel developers, we strongly encourage the use of native flora. We believe a healthy native plant population is one of the keys to saving many birds and other species from extinction.
We understand the desire to plant a bunch of palm trees and colorful euphorbia, instead of the pretty, drought tolerate natives, but one of the most important things to remember is that though we are in the tropics, we are in a tropical DRY forest zone.