Animal Welfare Brazil Project #8348

Save the Amazon: Protect Jaguars and Wildlife

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Feb 4, 2014

Record of the elusive and vulnerable Agami Heron

By Sophie Birkett - Head of Operations, Charitable Trust

Dear Supporter,

Tortuguero National Park is known for its great biodiversity of birds. Waterbirds found in and around the National Park are not only major tourist attractions, but they are also important bioindicators to evaluate biodiversity, health and quality of the ecosystem, due to their distribution and different specializations.

Jalova Canal Birds Biodiversity Assessment focus mainly on 30 target species chosen in conjunction with our partner MINAE. However, some of these target species are more elusive and rarer than others. The agami heron (Agamia agami) is an example. This is one of the least known herons and is a species of particular interest in Tortuguero National Park. In 1988 it was classified as near threatened by IUCN and in 2009 as least concern. It is currently listed as vulnerable and has an unknown population trend. It is rare throughout its range with little published information available about feeding ecology, nesting behavior and density.

Due to its low density and nocturnal habits, this heron was seen only few times by GVI. Thus, to discover more about this animal, GVI staff organized a nocturnal bird survey. Every month, since August 2013, GVI canal bird project leader organizes nocturnal bird excursions for volunteers, hoping to get more sightings and information on this species. On December 2013, GVI finally got 2 sighting of this bird at the Caño Negro canal.

Volunteer and staff were thrilled with the sight of such rare species. As it can be a good bioindicator of ecosystem quality for Tortuguero National Park, we wish to continue the nocturnal surveys, in order to gain more information on the behavior, distribution and ecology of this species. Besides, nocturnal surveys per se provide a lot of excitement and fun for both volunteers and staff, as the canals can look different from day to night.

I hope you are as excited by this as we are. We look forward to bringing you more news in the future.

All the best

GVI Costa Rica Tortuguero

Links:

http://www.gvi.org

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