Dr. Tom White’s update from the field
Dr. Tom White of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with Slender-billed parakeet chick following attachment of radiocollar.
submitted by Dr. Tom White for posting on Jaime’s blog
I just got back late last night from Chile and the work on the Slender-billed parakeet project. As you can probably imagine, we put in many days of long hours in the field, and with very good results. We placed a total of 11 transmitters on fledglings, and we also managed to capture and radiocollar 6 nesting adults, as well. The chicks were relatively easy, but the adults were quite a challenge, at least in the beginning. I had a pretty good general idea upon arrival in Chile of how we could trap them, and after a few days of seeing how the birds responded to our trapping efforts, we refined our techniques and strategies to the point that during the last week in the field we caught all 6 of the adults we targeted. All adults later returned to their nests and continued feeding chicks normally. Jaime and a volunteer are now busy (very busy!) trying to track the birds with radios.
To date, the only bad news was one nest in which all 5 chicks were taken by a poacher just before they fledged….including 2 that had transmitters!!
Gemma French (volunteer) and Arelis Johnson (USFWS) with wild adult Slender-billed parakeet captured at nest site.
Gemma French releasing wild adult Slender-billed parakeet at nest site following attachment of radiocollar.
