(Photo: Márton Hardy – Asociación Armonía)
Laney Rickman Reserve in Bolivia protects the largest known breeding population of the Critically Endangered Blue-throated Macaw against poachers and habitat loss due to cattle ranching. In charge of Armonía´s reserve and the nestbox program is park ranger César Flores, once a cattle rancher, today, conservationist and protector of the Macaws.
Cesar was born in the small rural town of Loreto in central Bolivia, into a traditional cattle-rancher family. Raised in the countryside around cattle, he knows the grasslands of the Llanos de Moxos as the palm of his hand.
In 2009 Cesar got in touch the first time with conservation when he was employed by Asociación Armonía´s to support our Nestbox Program for the Blue-throated Macaw. During the last decade, Cesar learned all the tricks of his new trade. He designs and produces the nestboxes himself at his Loreto home, then, before the breeding season he installs and cleans the artificial homes. During the breeding, César continuously monitors the growth of the chicks.
The long years of hard work are yielding results, during the 2018-2019 breeding season, Cesar watched a record number of 12 Blue-throated Macaw chicks to fledge from our nest boxes at Laney Rickman Nature Reserve.
Since August 2018, he is the Park Ranger of Laney Rickman Reserve sponsored by the Keepers of the Wild program from World Land Trust. He is also in charge of patrolling the reserve, prevent poaching and burnings, as well as he is our key advocate for conservancy amongst the local rancher community.
Cesar today is a devoted to the Nestbox Program and a true conservationist who protects wholeheartedly the Blue-throats and their habitat.
For the full story watch the interview with ranger Cesar Flores here:
Cesar Flores is employed with support from World Land Trust´s “Keepers of The Wild” program. To support the program please click here.
To honor and protect Laney’s legacy, her family, the Bird Endowment, Asociación Armonía, and American Bird Conservancy established the Laney Rickman Blue-throated Macaw Fund. Donations are welcome and provide vital long-term support for the Nido Adoptivo™ nest box program as well as habitat conservation and reserve management as needed to help save the Blue-throated Macaw. To donate for the nest box program, click here.
The creation of Laney Rickman Blue-throated Macaw Reserve was supported by: American Bird Conservancy, International Conservation Fund of Canada, International Union for Conservation of Nature – National Comitee of the Netherlands,
The Laney Rickman Reserve 2018-2019 conservation project was supported by: ARTIS Royal Zoo Amsterdam, The Bird Endowment, US. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Parrot Society UK, Van Tienhoven Foundation for International Nature Protection,