Job Type: volunteer position
Opportunity location: Loma Alta - coastal mountains - Ecuador - 3 hr N of Guayaquil
Closing date (if specified): 20 Nov 2010
Opportunity Description:
Bird Banding, Survey, and Community-based Conservation Volunteers
Ecuador Cloud Forest Bird Expedition
Loma Alta, Ecuador, South America
December 5-19, 2010
Life Net Ecuador's Expedition needs volunteers to help with mist-netting, bird banding, bird surveys, and community outreach at Loma Alta, Ecuador. Dr. Dusti Becker, a conservation biologist with more than 15 years experience in Ecuador, will lead the expedition. Volunteers help collect data about birds in the Loma Alta Important Bird Area (IBA). The project goals include comparing lowland and cloud forest bird communities, providing hands-on training in ecotourism for local citizens, and delivering information about biodiversity value of the Loma Alta watershed to community members including school children. The volunteer contribution of $1500 to Life Net is tax deductible. This is a great project to get solid experience with mist-netting and bird banding. We train volunteers, but experience with mist-netting is desirable.
Loma Alta is home to more than 20 species of hummingbirds and 48 of the 55 Tumbesian endemic birds making it a HOT birding spot. In 2004, our research findings lead BirdLife International to designate the Loma Alta watershed as an Important Bird Area (IBA). Red-masked Parakeets, Crested Guan, Rufous-fronted Chachalaca, Choco Toucan, Gray-backed Hawk, and Ornate Hawk Eagle are regional specialties. The reserve also harbors the critically endangered Esmeraldas Woodstar, an additional focus of our monitoring project.
Volunteers help set up and monitor mist nets, extract birds from nets, carry birds from nets to a banding station, and record basic ecological data. Bilingual volunteers may contribute to environmental education and ecotourism training Loma Alta. Volunteers will have some afternoons free to explore and bird around the protected area, including searching for Mantled Howlers and White-fronted Capuchin Monkeys. Volunteers will also have the opportunity to play a leadership role in the annual Conteo Navidad (Christmas Bird Count). Loma Alta is an official Audubon count circle.
Volunteer contribution covers transportation within Ecuador, lodging during the project, and meals during the project, and all fees associated with reserve entry, research permit, and Conteo Navidad. The expedition begins and ends in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with the team meeting on the morning of 5 December, 2010 and returning to the city late afternoon of 19 December.
For further details, contact Dusti Becker: dbecker@lifenetnature.org
For more info, contact:
For further details, contact Dusti Becker: dbecker@lifenetnature.org
2465 Olinda Rd.
Makawao, HI 96768