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Amazon Explorer
Celebrating and Sustaining Neotropical Birds
May 2012
If you've ever been to the Amazon, you probably know that it has a way of changing you. You'll try things and do things that you'd never do at home. Do you know the same is true for birds? Some of the birds in your backyard recently returned from their winter haitus in the rainforest and wow do they have stories to tell! In this issue of Amazon Explorer you'll find loads of information on how to celebrate, share, and sustain the birds of the Amazon and the secrets they keep. |
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The Secret Lives of Amazon Birds
Deep in the Amazon of Peru, Lucio puts a finger to his lips and points to a small shrub in the dim forest understory. Silence falls and binoculars move quickly in an effort to spot the tiny bird with a yellow breast and red cap.
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K. Gallatin, AW Group Leader |
The group watches in amazement as the Wire-tailed Manakin dances along a slender tree branch, proudly displaying his wire-like tail feathers in an effort to impress a potential mate.
Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. a group of eager birders scan the trees of Rock Creek Park hoping to catch a glimpse of a shockingly red Scarlet Tanager. The bird is a glowing red bundle of energy and moves energetically through the tree tops
gleaning the insects and larva it needs to refuel after an arduous intercontinental journey to its mating grounds.
Two birds with wildly different reproduction tactics. One dances his way to reproductive success and the other embarks on an epic 6000 mile roundtrip migration. Two birds dependent on the same slice of disappearing rainforest habitat - and they are not alone.
The Amazon basin is home to more than 1500 bird species and over 500 can be found in the region surrounding the Amazon Workshop study sites near Iquitos. The late Ted Parker, a world renowned ornithologist once said, "Being here (Peru) is like being a child visiting a huge store filled with new and fascinating toys". Many a visitor has returned home an enthusiastic birder after being captivated by the birds they encountered in the Amazon.
More than a few birds found in the Peruvian Amazon are migrants who winter in or pass through at certain times of the year. Often these seasonal visitors take on completely different lifestyles in the tropics. In the Amazon, the Scarlet Tanager becomes a gregarious socialite and joins mixed foraging flocks of flycatchers, antbirds, woodcreepers, and resident tropical tanagers, roaming the forest in noisy groups in search of food. While in D.C., they are secretive and solitary and can be difficult to spot despite their brilliant color. Like all neotropical migrants, the Scarlet Tanager is threatened with habitat loss in two hemispheres. Read on to learn more about how you can make a difference for these long distance travelers and their dancing Amazon friends. |
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Ask the Expert: Ken Rosenberg
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
 Ken has been at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology since 1993. He directed the Lab's conservation science program for 10 years, including several citizen-science projects focused on bird conservation. Ken is a leader of the international conservation network, Partners in Flight, and helps to produce the annual U.S. State of the Birds reports, which use citizen-science data to assess the health of bird populations and their habitats. Ken is also a lifelong birder who has studied birds throughout Central and South America, and he writes reviews of binoculars and spotting scopes for the Lab's magazine, Living Bird.
One of our featured birds, the Scarlet Tanager, relies on forested habitat in two very different parts of the world. As an ordinary citizen it is sometimes hard to know how you can make a difference. Tell us a little bit about your work with citizen scientists and how ordinary people (who may never visit the Amazon) are making a real difference in the lives of birds like the Scarlet Tanager.
The Cornell Lab's citizen science projects allow anyone with an interest in birds to collect valuable scientific data that help conservationists understand the needs of threatened bird species. Results of Project Tanager and the Birds in Forested Landscapes Project, for example, allowed us to design forest management guidelines to benefit breeding Scarlet Tanagers, Wood Thrushes, and other Neotropical migrant birds. Our newest project, eBird, collects millions of observations from birders and besides providing detailed maps of breeding and winter distributions, is helping us track migration routes of these long-distance travelers.
You've spent some time in Peru studying birds. What is your favorite bird of the Amazon and why?
I love the drab and obscure antwrens and foliage-gleaners that travel in mixed-species foraging flocks in the rainforest understory. To me, these represent the incredible diversity of tropical birds even better than the gaudy tanagers and trogons, because the vast majority of tropical birds are actually dull-colored and hard to see. I enjoy the extra challenge of learning their subtle identifications and fascinating behaviors, as if they were all hidden clues to the great mysteries of biodiversity and evolution that unfold in layers to those who are willing to observe more and more closely.
The Lab recently launched Neotropical Birds Online. This is going to be such a great resource for our Amazon Workskhop participants! Is it possible for novice or even beginning birders to make contributions to this project, based on what they observe in Peru?
Absolutely! Many tropical birds are so poorly known, that anyone who is observant in the rainforest can make new discoveries. Finding and documenting the nests of almost any tropical bird is valuable, and observations of interesting behaviors are also likely to represent new information for many species. The Neotropical Birds web site also needs good photographs for every bird species, so it is easy for anyone with a camera to make a significant contribution. |
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What Can You Do?
1. May is peak migratory season for many of the birds that breed across North America and YOU can make a difference in your own backyard. The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has identified the top ten things people can do to aid or protect migratory birds like the Scarlet Tanager.
2. Take it to the classroom.
Elementary: Use the book Flute's Journey by Lynne Cherry and help your elementary students connect their backyard birds to the rainforests of Central and South America. Learn how to lead your students on a school ground bird hike and teach them to binoculars!
Middle School: Check out this great idea for a Science Fair Project. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Saving Migrtory Birds
High School: Check out the NEW Crossing Boundries program for secondary educators and students Explore and analyze biodiversity and environmental conservation issues. Use a variety of high-quality web resources to investigate conservation issues locally, regionally, nationally and around the world.
3. Contribute to what we know about Amazon Birds
 Join our  Project Noah Mission "Species Spotlight: Peruvian Amazon" and help us document amazing biodiversity like Wire-Tailed Manakins, Scarlet Tanager, Toucans, Parrots, and more! 
Future, Present and Past Amazon Workshop Participants! Contact Christa if you would like to be involved in creating classroom curriculum materials to support our Project Noah Species Spotlight mission in the Amazon!
4. Spread the Word! Forward this email to your colleagues, friends, teachers, professors, friends, and family.
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What Are Others Doing?
Jen Fee Connects Kids through the Birds they Share! 
Jen, a 2005 workshop alumni, is the K-12 coordinator of BirdSleuth's Citizen Science programs for kids. If you haven't heard of BirdSleuth, you need to check it out. This internationally recognized project from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is just what you need to integrate inquiry, citizen science, and service, into your curriculum. The project aims to "...connect children with nature and build their scientific and environmental literacy through  school-based and field experiences focusing on birds and their habitat needs. Birds provide an accessible hook for getting children outside, observing and connecting to the environment and understanding first-hand the importance of where they live...birds can (also) connect us-quite literally-to other places, people, cultures and environmental  issues. Looking at a small songbird, and considering the thousands of miles that it has traveled, is a vivid way to connect students with other places and habitats" |
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Dig Deeper
Want to know more? Use these links to dig deeper and learn more about migratory birds.
Why do birds migrate?
How do birds learn to migrate?
How fast do migrating birds fly?
Did you know that what you put in your coffee cup can save migatory birds? Check out this video to learn more!
 | | Coffee and Birds by Trust for Wildlife / www.NeotropicalBirds.org |
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We hope you've enjoyed this issue of Amazon Explorer. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Let us know how we can make future editions of Amazon Explorer even better.
Sincerely,
Amazon Rainforest Workshops Team
© 2012 Environmental Expeditions |
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BREAKING NEWS:
Jacamar Spotting!
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in the Amazon |
We've launched a mission in the Amazon and need your help! You (and your students) can join our citizen science project to create a virtual field guide to the biodiversity in the areas we visit. The White-chinned Jacamar above is just one of our recent spottings!
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| STILL SPOTS LEFT!! |  |
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Are you an Amazon Alumnus?  | | Have you participated in an Amazon Rainforest Workshop? If so, you can join Amazon Workshop Online and access classroom resources, timely news, participate in forum discussions, build partnerships with other Amazon Alumni, and more. If you aren't already a member, join today! |
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