Twenty years ago, the Blue-throated Macaw Nestbox Program (Ara glaucogularis), led by the Asociación Armonía, recorded a single breeding attempt of this endemic and Critically Endangered species. Today, this initiative sets historic records year after year. In the 2025 season, nineteen chicks successfully fledged, bringing the total number of fledglings since the program began in 2005 to 164.
This result marks the second consecutive year with unprecedented figures for the species’ conservation: the 19 chicks that fledged in 2025 came from 12 nesting attempts and 32 eggs laid in the 128 artificial nestboxes installed in the Laney Rickman Reserve. The achievement confirms the effectiveness of a strategy that began as an experiment and is now one of the main tools to prevent the species’ extinction.
The progress is not isolated. In 2024, 17 chicks fledged, and in 2023, 15, showing a sustained trend of improvement in reproductive success. The impact is so significant that it is currently estimated that nearly one in four wild Blue-throated Macaws was born in a nestbox installed by Armonía.
Of the 32 eggs laid this season, 24 hatched, representing a 75% hatching rate. Of these, 19 successfully fledged, achieving a 79% success rate among the hatchlings. Six nests recorded complete survival from hatching to first flight, and one—PBA15—was the most productive, with four eggs resulting in three chicks that successfully fledged.
These results contrast with past seasons in which, despite a higher number of eggs, losses were greater. For example, in the 2022–2023 period, 46 eggs were documented in 14 nests, the highest number recorded to that date. However, more than half failed to hatch, with egg mortality close to 56%. In contrast, the 2024–2025 season showed the opposite pattern: fewer eggs but significantly higher survival, resulting in a record number of chicks successfully fledging.
Camera traps installed in the nestboxes revealed unexpected behavior this year: less competition with other species, but more territorial disputes between pairs of the same species. In one extreme case, a pair stopped feeding their chicks to confront another pair, which forced the team to intervene with supplementary feeding. Both chicks survived, fledged successfully, and were re-accepted by their parents.
Another episode revealed a curious detail of reproductive behavior: parents usually carve an oval exit hole in the artificial nest to facilitate their chicks’ first flight. One pair forgot to do this, and the park ranger in charge at Laney Rickman, César Flores, intervened to enlarge the entrance, allowing the chick to leave the nest the next day.
Two Decades of Historic Change
The accumulated data show a profound transformation. When the program began in 2005, only one nest was occupied, and no chicks survived. Two decades later, the nestboxes are not only frequently occupied, but they have also helped reduce competition with other species, improve chick survival, and produce individuals that now return to breed.
The Laney Rickman Reserve, established in 2018 in the Llanos de Moxos, has become a stronghold for the species. Habitat protection, restoration of native palm groves, sustainable savanna management, and environmental education are combined there in an integrated conservation approach.
The program took 16 years to reach its first 100 fledglings. At the current pace, 200 are expected to be reached before 2027, an acceleration that reflects the consolidation of technical and scientific work on the ground.
In parallel with these reproductive advances, Bolivia completed the Second National Census of the Blue-throated Macaw, a key assessment to understand the species’ current status in the wild. Ten years after the first count, six teams surveyed the three subpopulations in the Llanos de Moxos after training at the Laney Rickman Reserve. The results, to be released in the coming months, will determine whether the population has grown, remains stable, or requires new conservation measures.
Photos: Teodoro Camacho, Armonía
Text: Nicole Laura, Armonía