Wildlife Conservation Nicaragua Project #61299

Watch over a migrating bird in Central America!

by Paso Pacifico

Project Report | Mar 21, 2025
Everyone likes birds

By Sarah Otterstrom | Executive Director

Recording bird data. Photo by Jerry Maryniuk

David Attenborough once said, "Everyone likes birds", and we agree with him. Whether they are gracing our morning with joyful song or giving us a sense of wonder when we observe that nesting behaviour, birds are an important part of our lives.

Thanks to your support, our efforts to document and protect migratory birds in Central America is underway. Here are a few updates on your impact.

Bird-banding stations for survivorship at two locations in Nicaragua

Since November, our team has visited the stations every 4 weeks to capture migratory and resident birds gathering data about their survivorship. The monitoring activity generates valuable information. For example, using our data the Institute for Bird Populations has a scientific paper about migratory bird survival under review. We have been included as co-authors.

Christmas Bird Count

This was the 10th annual bird count. 21 participants using 10 routes identified 160 species. We held the event in early January 2025.

Willow flycatcher monitoring across three sites in El Salvador

This is our 3rd year monitoring flycatchers in Eastern El Salvador. During the winter season we've been documenting the habitat of this significantly threatened migratory bird. The survey found 13 additional migratory bird species of conservation concern in these same habitats including the American Redstart, Sulpher-bellied Flycatcher and Summer Tananger

Management of MOTUS station for radio telemetry tracking of birds

We have been busy planning the deployment of two MOTUS stations for radio tracking migratory and resident birds. This involved meeting with government officials, landowners and technical experts.

It is a privilege to study birds and to work with communities and landowners to protect their habitat. We are so grateful to you for making this work possible.

Tropical parula, resident bird at the station

Wintering chestnut-sided warbler

Links:

Species Results from our participation in Christmas Bird Count

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Nov 8, 2024
Overcoming obstacles

By Prudence Currey Schafer | Volunteer

Summer tanager during fall migration

Thank you for contributing to this project and allowing us to continue monitoring endangered bird migration in Nicaragua.

Your support enabled us to implement a wildlife tracking Motus station, allowing us to locate the habitats of certain birds, stopover points along migration patterns, and migration timing. With this resource we collected important data which is being used to determine how to best practice conservation for certain migratory species. Unfortunatley our Motus sytem underwent some technical difficulties this year, but we're in the process of troubleshooting and look forward to the certain impact this new technology will have on our conservation goals.

With this in mind, Paso Pacifico has proposed the expansion of a network of Motus stations across Central America and South West Mexico. With an increased range it would be possible to monitor more birds more precisely, making it easier to collect data about Redlisted species and gain support of wildlife corridors and habitat protection.

We also recieved positive news from the Willow Flycatcher campaign. Photos taken in protected Willow Flycatcher habitat in eastern El Salvador revealed many other birds of conservation concern inhabiting the same areas. This diversity reflects the importance of preserving these Salvadorian ecosystems which are home to a variety of endangered birds and wildlife.

Lastly, Paso Pacifico was thrilled to celebrate October Big Day on the 12th, a global day for birding within a larger weekend of bird appreciation. Paso Pacifico's ranger team took their binoculars and cameras to the Paso Del Istmo wildlife corridor in southern Nicaragua and to Granada in the west, capturing photos of of the forest inhabitants.

We are very grateful for your support of this project, with your help Paso Pacifico will continue to make an impact on the protection of migrating species.

Resident roseated spoonbill during October Big Day

Wetland birds observed during bird count

Migration of birds detected at our Motus station

Ranger Jarrinton observing birds on Global Big Day

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Apr 17, 2024
Thank you for helping the wintering birds

By Sarah Otterstrom | Executive Director

Pronothory warbler

Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to protect and study migratory birds on their Central American wintering ground.

You helped us sustain vital efforts that included habitat protection, bird monitoring, and building awareness through citizen science.

Habitat Protection

This wintering season community rangers protected birds at the following private reserves in Nicaragua: Mono Bayo Reserve, Quelantero Reserve, Guacamaya Reserve, Morgan's Rock Reserve, and Isla Vista Reserve. We are excited to also share that we have begun the process to purchase 100 acres of land in Eastern El Salvador to serve as a sanctuary for birds and wildlife. At this new property we sighted the pale-billed woodpecker, a large forest woodpecker only recently sighted in the area after one hundred years.

The dry season is always a precarious time for birds and wildlife because wildfires can ravage wintering habitats. Your support helps us to build fire breaks and extinquish small fires in Nicaragua and El Salvador. This year, our community rangers put out three fires in El Salvador. We feel relieved that there were not more fires given the El Nino climate pattern which generally leads to more intense drought.

Bird Monitoring

We conducted bird monthly monitoring at two bird-banding station through a methodology known as MoSI which helps researchers to understand wintering survival. We acptured 28 species of resident birds and 14 migratory species at the Mono Bayo Reserve station. A Northern Waterthrush that visited us in the 2020-2021 season once once again captured by our team. Similary, at the Quelantero station, we captured 25 resident birds and 15 migratory species. A yellow-throated vireo that was captured at this station in 2020-2021 non-breeding season was recaptured this year. We feel delighted when we encounter birds from prior years! Birds of conservation concern encountered at these station include the indigo bunting, wood thrush, and the tropical royal flycatcher (resident).

Citizen Science

We celebrated our the Christmas Bird Count on January 3rd. Data from this event are shared with the Audubon Society via their data platform and helps to inform science about long-term trends in bird populations. Forty-eight volunteers helped to identify 152 species of birds, and a total of 2665 individual birds. Follow the link in this report to watch a short video in Spanish about the day.

Thank you again for your support for our bird conservation efforts!

Happy Birding!

Putting out a wildfire that damages bird habitat

The children love to learn about birds

Children observing the banding station

Young summer tanager

Links:

Video about our Christmas bird count (Spanish narration)

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