24 January 2025, Day 6, Selva Verde Lodge & Reserve — Road Scholar Birding in Northern Costa Rica: Tanagers to Toucans

This morning we travel to Sarapiquí and the Selva Verde Lodge and Reserve where we hope to see great green macaws (Ara ambiguus), the largest parrots in Central America. Critically endangered, there are only about 200+ adult great green macaws in Costa Rica now, living in evergreen rainforests among almendro trees (Dipteryx oleifera), the trees they rely on for cavity nests and food.

The IUCN website lists the worldwide great green macaw population at 500 to 1000 mature individuals, distributed in the range below where you *might* find one if you spent an hour walking 2 km at the optimal time of day.

The fact that these birds exist at all in Costa Rica is a testament to the hard work of two bird conservation organizations: Ara Manzanillo on the Caribbean coast and Macaw Recovery Project on the Pacific coast. In the last century logging took out 90% of the great green macaw’s nesting habitat and the pet trade swept up any new chicks that could be found. The 200 adults currently in Costa Rica are said to be a 10% remnant of the original population. Imagine how many great green macaws there used to be!

Ara Manzanillo and Macaw Recovery Project are working on many fronts to restore great green macaws to Costa Rica:

• Habitat protection and restoration of rainforests containing almendro trees because:
  • Almendro provide 90% of their food and 80% of their cavity nest sites.
  • Pairs require about 1,350 acres of intact rainforest containing almendro trees in order to breed. Otherwise they don’t bother to lay eggs.
• Artificial nest sites when appropriate cavities are not available.
• Captive breeding using rescued pet-trade birds plus reintroduction to the wild. (The wild birds at Selva Verde are related to the conservation projects.)
• Research and monitoring to measure and improve success, including audio recordings of the birds’ voices(* like Merlin).
• Community education about saving the birds and the forest.
• Influencing government policy to protect the forest and the birds.

Because these birds are Critically Endangered they are not publicly reported on eBird nor are their recordings available on Xeno Canto.

These videos show off their beauty.

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This 6.5 minute video, produced 15 years ago at La Selva Biological Station, shows courtship behavior and a potential nesting cavity.

Fingers crossed that we get a good view of these beautiful birds.