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The Tambopata Macaw Project: A new era is coming

Founded and created the same year (1989)  by  Eduardo Nycander and Kurt Holle, the Tambopata Macaw Project, and Rainforest Expeditions were born together in Madre de Dios, PERU.

Under their direction, the project began with the goal of learning about the basic ecology, natural history of macaws, and methodologies for rescuing and rearing macaws in artificial nests so that this information could be used to help their conservation and so that those methodologies could be perfected and put into practice in other places where macaws have disappeared or decreased dramatically. In 1994, an extensive article on the project was published in the famous National Geographic magazine, including a cover that catapulted the fame of the project, Tambopata Research Center, and the macaw clay licks or collpas.

As the project was evolving from 2002 to 2020 a new director assumed the leadership of the project, Dr. Donald Brightsmith, who has contributed important advances in knowledge about wild macaws.

For many years, the project consisted of a long-term multidisciplinary study of the natural history, conservation, and management of macaws and parrots. The main topics of study included monitoring and observation of macaw nests, increasing the survival rates of chicks and juveniles, documenting patterns of clay lick use, and understanding the impact of tourism on the macaw clay lick.

Dr. Donald Brightsmith and his team focused the project on understanding the links between the clay lick, nesting, tree phenology (flowering and fruiting), and movements of parrots in and out of the area. Thousands of mornings of observation of the huge clay wall and literally hundreds of thousands of records may be the largest set of parrot data ever assembled.

Due to their large size and beauty, macaws are excellent flagship species like Harpy Eagles, jaguars, and river wolves, serving as charismatic focal points for ecosystem conservation. Unfortunately, in most tropical America, these umbrella species have suffered large population declines.

In recent years, Dr. Donald Brightsmith has been developing and evaluating techniques to increase the reproductive output of wild macaws, expanding the knowledge of macaw nesting behavior, increasing our understanding of the complexities of collpa use, tracking macaw movements through satellite telemetry, and evaluating tourism as a tool for macaw and forest protection.

Macaw Clay Lick by Carlos Gonzales

Chuncho clay lick by Carlos Gonzales

Some important discoveries developed by his team include:

  1. The climate influences the seasonal behavior of the Collpa Colorado, the number of parrots varies depending on whether it is rainy or sunny days
  2. Seasonal climatic changes generate fluctuations in the annual food supply for Parrots and Macaws (flowers, green fruits and ripe fruits). Food availability is apparently lowest at the end of the wet season and early dry season (March – July) and highest in the early wet season in mid-December and January.
  3.   This fluctuation in the food supply drives two things: the annual movements of Parrots to and from the area around TRC and the timing of breeding.
  4. When there is less food, the birds apparently leave the area around TRC as the number of birds in the forest decreases drastically from April to July.
  5. The timing of breeding is apparently driven by the food supply: the number of breeding Parrot species is closely related to the number of trees in fruit or flowers. However, not all species reproduce simultaneously. Smaller species apparently reproduce before larger ones.
  6.   Parrot movements out of the area during periods of low food abundance reduce the number of birds using the clay lick. When food supplies are high, birds apparently congregate in the vicinity of the clay lick.
  7. The timing of breeding also influences the number of birds in the clay lick, as for most Parrot species, the clay lick uses beaks during the breeding season, specifically when the birds have nestlings. Scarlet Macaws feed their chicks large amounts of clay, especially when the chicks are young. As they grow, the amount of clay they receive decreases and the total use of the Collpa decreases as well. 
  8. Evidence has also been found that the use of clay licks depends on the bird’s need for sodium. Using soil samples analyzed by researchers at Texas A&M University, it was found that birds apparently prefer soils with higher sodium content over soils that are better at neutralizing toxins.

Scarlet Macaws in Tambopata

Scarlett Macaws by Paul Bertner

We at Rainforest Expeditions believe that the key to protecting not only the clay licks and macaws but also the entire forest ecosystem and its umbrella species such as jaguars, otters, and harpy eagles by having more allies for conservation. By giving added value to the forest and producing greater benefits for local communities, these allies form a barrier that protects the forest from illegal activities such as logging, coca leaf cultivation, hunting, and mining.

Integrating the scientific community with visitors and promoting citizen science is also crucial for conservation. We launched Wired Amazon, a conservation program in 2018 that includes citizen science projects like AmazonCam, Aerobotany, and Discovering New Species. The latter project, in collaboration with the San Marcos Natural History Museum and the University of Guelph, has discovered 26 new species in just four years.

Donate to Wired Amazon Program

In 2020, Dr. Donald Brightsmith and his team left the Tambopata Research Center and formed the Macaw Society to continue their work in macaw conservation. 

Attention all fans of the Wired Amazon Program! Exciting news!

After 20 years, Eduardo Nycander returns to Tambopata, where the whole dream of saving the macaws began, where Rainforest Expeditions was born. This time together with the Museum of Natural History of the National University of San Marcos, they will add innovative technology for the conservation of macaws in the region and Latin America. The new goal will be to contribute to the reduction of threats to macaw conservation in the Madre de Dios Region through the use of the best available technology.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn more about the new season and be a part of the journey. Join us now and let’s save the future of the macaws together!

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TAMBOPATA MACAW PROJECT HERE

  • What our guest say

    • Valuation Excellent
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Dreamer627120 March 2024

The lodge is located in the middle of the forest accessible only by boat. The experience was very unique and exciting. Service is great, and the fun part are the nature activities and tours the hotel offers for free. We had an amazing tour guide that had a lot of knowledge and was fun to spend time with. The rooms are totally open to the forest which is really cool the struggle is the there is no privacy at all in between the rooms, also food was pretty basic. All together a very unique experience. Read all

This hotel is the perfect blend of comfort and hospitality, with the natural experience. The hotel is reached by a hours boat ride from Puerto Maldonado, expertly organized and accomplished. Most staff are members of the local Esa Ejja community. The food is good and plentiful. Hot water is always available and lovely bedding features mosquito nets. There is of course no air conditioning (one side wall is open in rach room) and the electricity is off for a few hours at night affecting overhead fans, so I was glad to have brought a small battery powered fan for sleeping. But the best of the experience is the wildlife. Our expert guide Oscar Mishaja introduced us to nearly 100 bird species, along with caimans, river otters, poison dart frogs and capybara. A trip of a lifetime. Read all

Excellent experience overall— really kind and welcoming staff at every point of the journey. All transfers were well organized and smooth. Excellent and educational excursions all around the rainforest. Delicious food for every meal. We had wonderful guides- Freet and Alvaro. Enjoyed our time here! Read all

Unbelievable.... Magical Everything I have dreamed of since I was 8 years old but MORE Read all

We had a surreal experience at Refugio Amazonas. From the well organized transportation to the warm welcome, hospitality and the experience of living in nature - we loved it all. Huge shout out to our guide Boris who went out of his way to ensure we had a good experience and got to watch all kinds of wild life. The meals and cocktails were delicious. And even though this place is smack in the middle of the jungle there was super fast WiFi available. We made unforgettable memories. Read all

We had an amazing time in TRC. From the guide, tours, lounge staff, food and room, everything has exceeded our expectation and like an amazing dream came true. We highly recommend to directly book with the lounge website, so that you got a private guide for your group. Special thanks to our guide Saul, who made this experience extra special! We were so impressed by his knowledge about all the animals and the rainforest. Read all

We had an amazing time in TRC. From the guide, tours, lounge staff, food and room, everything has exceeded our expectation and like an amazing dream came true. This is the only lounge available in Tambopata national park, and this eco lounge takes environment seriously. We highly recommend to directly book with the lounge website, so that you got a private guide for your group. Special thanks to our guide Saul, who made this experience extra special! We were so impressed by his knowledge about all the animals and the rainforest. If you are a natural lover, you can’t miss this place Read all

Excellent and luxurious place, wonderful experience and our guide Boris was first class, he had a unique patience with my 8 year old son. An experience in the tropical rainforest that marks the life of its visitors. In addition to the scientific research that takes place in the place: a whole research center. Rooms: Very comfortable and luxuriou Read all

El mejor hotel para visitar la Amazonia peruana. Hotel eco turístico metido en medio de la selva, equipado para visitar y vivir la selva, su flora y fauna, en todas sus facetas. Todo incluido, con guías preparados y amables, resultó una experiencia increíble para mi familia. Dentro de las opciones no se debe perder el Canopy de 45 metros de altura para observar y escuchar la selva, así como el lago de las tres Chimbadas, lugar único para ver caimanes, nutrias gigantes, monos y aves exóticas. Recomiendo mínimo dos noches!!! Read all

Wunderbare lodge mit freundlichen Menschen. sehr persönliche guides, tolle Tourangebote und super kulinarische Verpflegung ! Wir wurden herzlichst von Caesar empfangen und unser guide JuanJo hat uns phantastische Dinge gezeigt. Wir können die lodge nur wärmstens empfehlen! Read all

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