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CONSERVATION IN ACTION
This year, we experienced the heartbreak of losing a colleague and friend to COVID-19. Luis Fernando Díaz Chávez was a talented ornithologist who was passionate about forest birds and raptors. We are deeply grateful to everyone who supported his memorial fund, and we have vowed to remember him through our work.
In 2019, Luis assisted in our first ever count of migrating raptors, spending one month in the field counting birds. In late September of this year, we began a two-month count, building on last year's experience. We are so proud of the 2020 raptor team, which includes consulting ornithologists Oswaldo Saballos, Ismael López, and Juan Cruz. Marlon Sotelo also supported the effort. It was Nicaragua's longest and most intense raptor count ever.
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Despite Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota disrupting the count for days at a time, the team counted 2,026,193 raptors! They recorded twelve migrating raptor species, with the vast majority of raptors representing three species: broad-winged hawks (Buteo platypterus), turkey vultures (Cathartes aura), and Swainson's hawks (Buteo swainsoni). The gif at right shows raptors forming an awe-inspiring aerial 'river,' which is a typical sight in raptor migration.
Read more about this incredible project through a blog post published this month and authored by guest blogger and science journalist Jason Goldman. Thank you for your support.
Photo of Luis Díaz: Adelayde Rivas. Other photos: Oswaldo Saballos.
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Eliza Woolley is a key team member in the Ventura, California office. She grew up in southern California and joined our team in late 2016 after graduating from Brigham Young University in English with minors in editing and digital humanities. Eliza is a person with many skills and talents. As our conservation data manager, she is heavily involved with our website, social media, and print publications. She also organizes and tracks photos and contacts, and ensures that donors like you receive letters of thanks.
Eliza has set aside time to record and organize parts of our history, helping our US office move beyond a startup mentality and better showcase 15 years of achievements. Our recent print newsletter, available here, is possible thanks to Eliza's incredible skills as a writer, graphic designer, and digital editor. Eliza generously shares her talents and is currently helping the Partners in Flight bird conservation network with its digital communications tools.
When she is not working, she enjoys baking, driving, listening to and creating music, scoring secondhand freebies for herself and our office, and connecting with faraway friends. We are so grateful to Eliza for her role in strengthening Paso Pacífico.
Photo: Eliza Woolley
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We give thanks to you our donors who supported our GoFundMe campaign for the raptor count. With your help, our team counted migrating birds of prey continuously for two months and made it through two hurricanes while in the field. This year's raptor count was historic, not only because of the natural disasters, but because it was the longest raptor count ever and counted the highest number of raptors ever in Nicaragua. Most exciting is that it demonstrates that the route through Nicaragua is a primary path for migrating raptors that cross from Veracruz.
We are also grateful to rancher José Maria, his wife Petrona, and their son Santiago. Not only did they host us at their farm house, they supported our team with food and logistics throughout the period. Thank you to you all.
Photo: Ismael López
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Tomorrow is #GivingTuesday. Due to COVID-19, illegal hunting is increasing and endangered spider monkeys are a target. Poachers are killing mother monkeys so they can take the babies and sell them into the pet trade.
This giving season, we urge you to donate to save a baby spider monkey. With your help, our community rangers can protect spider monkeys and other threatened wildlife endangered by the pandemic. Thank you.
Photo: Jarinton Garcia
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PARTNERS MAKE IT POSSIBLE
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In El Salvador, the Ministry of the Environment (MARN) has set ambitious goals to conserve emblematic wildlife. This fall, we supported them in designing national programs on behalf of the endangered yellow-naped Amazon parrot and their local critically endangered subspecies of black-handed spider monkey. These plans will guide national efforts to protect these special creatures and help their populations recover.
Many organizations contributed. Members of the Alliance for Yellow-naped Amazon Parrots, including the Enrique Figueroa Foundation and FUNZEL, enriched the program design for the endangered parrot. The local nonprofit Territorios Vivos - El Salvador played a key role in the plan for the spider monkey. Our donors from the Sea World & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, Loro Parque Fundación, and the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation helped make this work possible.
We are incredibly grateful to all of these partners, and are pleased to see MARN's leadership to protect El Salvador's precious biodiversity.
Photo: Carlos Jenkins
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Your estate plan could provide both tax savings for you and legacy support for wildlife and communities in Central America. Please contact Executive Director Dr. Sarah Otterstrom at sarah@pasopacifico.org with any questions.
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