Climate Change and Parks
Trip to the National Parks
When the park truck arrives at the Plantage Prins at dawn, a dozen young parrots begin to melt, a couple even perching on the hood with impatient looks. We prepare a breakfast of fruits, vegetables and legumes so that those pampered birds are ready to pass by. some other day in Aruba’s Arikok National Park, to enjoy wild food and learn how to dodge peregrine falcons.
“Hello, hello, hello,” Natasha Silva, curator, says softly to her feathered friends. “That means they’re hungry when they come down. “
It’s hard to say what’s more unusual, seeing a park feeding wildlife or hearing how those yellow-shouldered Amazons returned to this island after they were last seen in the wild about 77 years ago.
Silva was having lunch on a Saturday in the summer of 2022 when he won an urgent call from Ursell Arends, Aruba’s Minister of Nature. The coast guard had intercepted a smuggling boat full of other people fleeing the economic and political crisis in Venezuela. 33 Lovers, monkeys and other wild animals poached.
Two yellow-shouldered Amazons (Parrots) land on a truck in Aruba’s Arikok National Park in April/Jennifer Bain
Normally, all those creatures would be euthanized to discourage the illegal puppy trade. But the minister knew that the Aruba National Parke Foundation hoped to reintroduce Loras.
“Natasha, come get them now,” the minister said. It was two years ahead of schedule, but of course Silva said yes. By ministerial decree the base for the conservation of the Loras was designated. The species is also by law.
Young children under pressure were in poor condition. Several died in quarantine while the rest struggled with malnutrition and dehydration. Everyone did their part to take care of them.
Aruba is one of the islands of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea and is only 24 kilometers north of Venezuela. A constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the small island of 110,000 other people has picture-perfect beaches but rugged terrain and deserted hills dotted with cacti. The plaques read “A Happy Island. ” A popular tourist slogan is “70 square miles of happiness. “
Aruba is known for its white-sand beaches (and the Fofoti tree of Eagle Beach, right), the small desert island in the Caribbean is also dotted with cacti/Jennifer Bain
It’s fair to say that the Parrot (Amazona barbadensis) enjoyed death here.
This intelligent and friendly bird has long been a valuable puppy. The giant green parrot with a yellow face, a yellow patch on its shoulder, and an orange spot on its wings likes the overgrown spaces of the desert. Poached for the puppy trade, killed because it was considered an agricultural pest and driven from its habitat due to deforestation and development, it was last noticed in 1947.
The Parrot was declared extinct (locally extinct), meaning it may no longer be discovered in the wild in Aruba, but it continued to exist in remote places on Bonaire and Curacao, as well as in northern Venezuela and the Venezuelan islands of Margarita and La Blanquilla. With wild populations estimated at less than 10,000 individuals, the Olive Ridley was declared “Near Threatened” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2021.
Natasha Silva, conservation at the Aruba National Park Foundation, is excited to care for the Parrots they rescued from smugglers in 2022 and reintroduced into the wild in January/Jennifer Bain
“We do this just to make them compatible until they’ve spent a year in the wild and learned where all the food resources are,” Silva says as she feeds the Loras chopped oranges, apples, bananas and green peppers, as well as cooked. chickpeas and other legumes.
In 2022, rangers temporarily built a huge aviary for 25 surviving parrots in a secret location outside the park. They sought advice from the World Parrot Trust, Vogelpark Avifauna in the Netherlands, and other experts, and even sent bird droppings to the United States and Europe for normal analysis. They followed in the footsteps of a similar program on Bonaire.
As the birds gained strength and learned to fly, rangers built a “release aviary” in a former coconut plantation in the park, near the main paved road but out of sight of most visitors. Then, for 3 days in January, they released 25 Parrots.
“After a year and a part of thorough care, monitoring and learning, we are thrilled to witness Lora’s return to Aruba’s wilderness after 76 long years,” the foundation announced on Facebook.
If they encounter the newly reintroduced parrot herd in Arikok National Park, they are asked to show respect and stay away from the parrots/Jennifer Bain
The herd is thriving and has been passed by hikers and rangers.
Parrots have abandoned their chicken-like eating behavior (eating when on the ground) and are now looking for cacti, yuwana, and hubada beans. They explore the park and beyond and are less dependent on humans and their food. They are more alert to danger, making mild prrrrrrrs that represent vigilance against potential predators, freezing and remaining motionless when necessary.
Park continues to feed the Loras additional breakfast and dinner foods (equivalent servings of protein-rich fruits, vegetables, and legumes) and lets them feed for the rest of the day.
“They have a disadvantage because they were bred in captivity and there are no adults to teach them,” Silva adds. “Parrots are very intelligent animals. Many things are instinctive, many can be taught.
The Parrots are now free to come and go from an aviary that was built for them in Arikok National Park in Aruba/Jennifer Bain
With the aviary as an optional base and a feeding and water program, rangers keep a watchful eye on the Parrots. Here’s how they saw them fend off six weeks of peregrine falcon attacks.
“I didn’t sleep and I had a lot of gray hair,” Silva recalls of that painful period. “Now I’ve been two weeks without Peregrine, knock on wood. “
Roger Solagnier, a plant expert who also cares for the Lora, has even had nightmares about pilgrims. In one of them, he saw Loras flying through the canyon, but then he heard the cry of a pilgrim and saw him catch a Lora with his right. claw, one with the left and the other with the hooked beak.
“Which is absurd,” the ranger admits. In life, parrots “fly around and look for Peregrine all the time. “
In a greenhouse in Arikok National Park, ranger Roger Solagnier grows shrubs and trees to repair habitat and feed the Parrots. These Are Pods He Collected/Jennifer Bain
The park will eventually settle for peregrine falcons being a grassy predator. “It’s just that this organization of Loras is an organization of young children and they don’t have adults to teach them in nature how to deal with these things,” Silva says. “Then, a year later, we’re going to say, ‘Okay, you’re here on your own. ‘But for now, we’re still trying to get the Pilgrim away as much as possible. “
Since parrots are around 18 months old and don’t start breeding until they are seven years old, the modest purpose of the foundation’s species conservation and reintroduction program is to identify a self-sustaining wild population of Lora through 2043.
Meanwhile, the foundation is evolving from a park watchdog organization to a nature conservation organization and is on the verge of becoming the Aruba Conservation Foundation.
Established in 2000, the base manages 24. 3% of Aruba’s natural territory and 0. 2% of its territorial waters. It takes care of four marine areas, the Spanish Lagoon (a RAMSAR site and a wetland of foreign importance) and the Arikok National Park, which accounts for 18% of its territory.
A view of the desert landscape near the Arikok National Park Visitor Center in Aruba/Jennifer Bain
“I have to say that Arikok is a valuable piece of nature that will remain what it is for generations,” says Ewald Biemans, a member of the park’s board of directors and owner and CEO of Bucuti.
The hotelier introduces me to Paco, a yellow-headed amazon discovered on the side of the road by a worker in 1991 and who has lived in the hotel ever since. And even though Paco prefers women, everyone loves him. Two of Aruba’s national birds, the brown-throated parakeets known locally as Prikichi, live alongside Paco. Jessy discovered her in the box through a guest in 2012 and James landed in her cage, didn’t want to leave and flew sideways when the door opened.
“It’s not really a rescue,” Biemans says, “but it saves Jessy. “
In San Nicolás, this mural by Garrick Marchena made in 2017 is called “Prikichi, please don’t go. “Artist says Aruba’s national bird is slowly disappearing because it’s threatened by human progression and invasive boa constrictors/Jennifer Bain
No one knows Aruba’s captive bird population. But the rank and file now has to convince the local population that parrots and parakeets are no longer considered pets. He hopes to be able to recover abandoned birds soon, but that doesn’t mean other people give up on pets that have spent decades in captivity.
“Lora would probably be 40 years old,” Silva says. It would be almost ruthless to return the 30-year-old Lora to the wild. But other people feel guilty now that they know. “It’s going to be a huge learning process,” so we’re doing it in a gentle way. It is difficult to implement strict measures.
The basis will be to teach the children of the school. It has also just signed a strategic agreement with the Aruba Tourism Authority to continue to engage and maintain nature while raising awareness among locals and visitors about the importance of nature conservation.
For Loras, that means “being proud to have a wild population and having other people who are part of the conservation team,” Silva says.
At the Aruba National Park Foundation office, Communications and Marketing Manager Edeline Berg presents a portrait of Lora through local artist Armando Goedgedrag/Jennifer Bain.
We want to show respect to Loras by keeping our distance and keeping cats and dogs away. We will have to not feed or capture parrots and report any sightings of birds dressed in one or two colorful rings on their legs to a helpline committed to wildlife.
Parrots don’t have to deal with old enemies like poachers in the puppy trade, but now they have to deal with invasive species and predators like rats, domestic and feral cats, and boa constrictors.
Contrary to popular belief, boas did not cause the Parrot’s demise, as this non-native species arrived here in the 1990s. The good news is that snakes gravitate to urban spaces in search of food, but no one knows yet how they will coexist with them. Parrots.
What is known is that parrots, which were once the main parrot species in Aruba, help disperse seeds from plants and trees that then proliferate and from other wildlife. This culturally vital species plays a key role in the island’s biodiversity.
Kadushi cactus (also spelled cadushi) thrives in Aruba, with a mutation reasoning crest/Jennifer Bain
Spanish colonists nicknamed Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao “Islas Inútils” (Useless Islands) because they lacked valuable metals. Because of its semi-arid climate, Aruba is lush and has as many slave-operated cotton and sugar cane plantations as other Caribbean countries. islands.
It’s the dry season when, in April, I settled into the low-rise Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort, located across from Eagle Beach’s iconic Fofoti tree and a 25-minute drive from the park. I have the opportunity to visit the park’s greenhouse. reported more about a program to improve the biodiversity of the flora that protects local and endangered shrubs and trees. The seedlings will be used for habitat recovery and food for the Olive Ridley.
“We give them grass (leaves, twigs and buds) with branches so that they recognize the trees,” Silva says, as we hand out wood from buds, tree of life (moringa) and mangrove seedlings.
Park rangers prepare “navigations” for the Loras to help them get to know what the wild foods look and taste like for themselves/Jennifer Bain
Suddenly, most of the herd jumps into a whirlwind of howling vegetation.
“They dispersed in groups, which is very unusual,” Silva said. “I don’t know what’s going on. ” Soon he sees a crested caracara, a bird of prey.
Normally, it takes rangers two hours to feed and water the Parrots, weigh some of them, and update their grazing. Long branches of neem, a local invasive species from India with medicinal properties, are strategically placed in the aviary and updated every week.
Silva has 15 Parrots. As difficult as it may seem, if part of the initial 25 birds are alive until the end of the year, it will be a great success. The hope is to reintroduce at least 10 wild adult Parrots each year to the vicinity. islands. There is an agreement on the creation of a buffer population through a breeding programme in the Netherlands.
Lora eat neem, an invasive species with medicinal properties, in its aviary in Arikok National Park. Neem is a member of the mahogany/Jennifer Bain family
“There’s nothing better than seeing them in the wild,” Silva says proudly as we marvel at the remaining birds. “Sometimes other people are in the right position and the herd flies. “
This happened to a local runner who started yelling, waving, and squealing as the herd passed her on the road.
I get a glimpse of that surreal sight and sound as the Loras flee the aviary, but I’ll never see the first two wild parrots I see: a mated pair peeking out among the volcanic rocks along the park’s main paved road.
These two Parrots appear to be a pair exploring nesting spaces in volcanic rocks discovered along the main Arikok/Jennifer Bain National Park road.
Solagnier tells me that he checked the holes and there are no eggs.
It’s possible that parrots are simply “playing at home,” he theorizes. They may simply lay eggs that are not fertile, or they may miraculously lay fertile eggs, despite being officially too young to reproduce.
“It would be a first,” the ranger said.
Wild parrots in Arikok National Park seized in 2022 when the Coast Guard intercepted a boat full of illegal immigrants and wildlife poaching/Jennifer Bain
The team shares photos and videos with parrot experts around the world. They share with me a short phone video of two birds.
“They need to get out of this,” Solagnier says.
“They’re absolutely confused,” Silva said. I think they just want adults to show them what to do. It’s a kind of love-hate. They know they’re doing something, but they also say, “Hey, you’re taking me away and why are you grabbing me?”
“They remind me of my adolescence,” Solagnier says.
It’s a totally new and exciting job. No two workdays are the same. One day, Loras is confronted with bee stings and learns to eat cacti. On that day, the team has to pull a cactus needle from a parrot’s nostril.
Natasha Silva, Conservation Manager at the Aruba National Park Foundation, provides breakfast to parrots released in Arikok National Park in January/Jennifer Bain
“They ask us every day and they do it pretty well,” Solagnier says. “We are very proud of them. They are definitely our babies.
“Are they little kids or teenagers now?” asks Edeline Berg, director of communications and marketing for the foundation, who came here for the morning meal and the excursion to the greenhouses.
“They’re a kind of attention to teenagers; that’s reflected in their behaviors,” Silva responds. “They are less dependent on us. They interact with us a little less and more remotely.
We get back in the truck and leave Plantage Prins after only an hour, as almost all of the Loras have left in a hurry. I cross the park 3 more times alone, respectfully avoiding the aviary as I wait to get one last glimpse of the birds playing on the volcanic rocks or the herd crossing the road. Sadly, that’s not the case, and that’s a very smart thing to do.
Two yellow-shouldered Amazons, a parrot known as Lora in Aruba, have taken up residence at Plantage Prins in Arikok/Jennifer Bain National Park.
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