VOLUNTEER FIELD ASSISTANT: The Blue-throated Macaw Conservation Projectat The Blue-throated Macaw Conservation Project
www.facebook.com/BTMacaw
Sachojere, Beni Department, Bolivia
The Blue-throated Macaw Conservation Project needs volunteer field assistants from January 2016 for an ongoing project with the Critically Endangered Blue-throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis) in the low-land savanna of Moxos, Bolivia. The Blue-throated Macaw is endemic to this region of Bolivia and only about 150 are left in the wild. Volunteers field assistants will live at the Blue-throated Macaw Conservation Center, where there are captive Blue-throated macaws that are part of a breeding, training and reintroduction pilot study. Volunteers field assistants will help with the daily routines of the center as well as with research projects on other local parrot species. Duties of the center include introducing the captive macaws to a native diet, monitoring their feeding behavior, diet and training, collecting their native food and maintaining their enclosure and the center. Activities for the research projects can include checking cavities in the surrounding area for potential nests, mist netting, phenology studies and others. Additional activities can include support to the educational program, conducting wild Blue-throated macaw population and nest surveys (may involve tree-climbing), behavioral observations and collecting data about their biology. If active nests are found, duties may also include guarding them from nest predators, daily nest-checking, performing periodic health checks of nestlings and feeding nestlings if necessary.
Applicants must be responsible, self-disciplined, hard working, self-motivated, tolerant of tropical weather and biting insects (mosquitoes, sunfly, ticks, flies), willing to work in a group and able to tolerate rustic living conditions. A sense of humor is always appreciated. Applicants share one of the three cabins of the Conservation center, which is 25 km from the nearest city, Trinidad, and on the outskirts of a small village, Sachojere. Applicants with Spanish language skills are preferred but these not required. This is a great opportunity for someone with basic or intermediate Spanish skills to immerse in the language. A minimum stay of two (2) months is required, but longer stays are preferable. Volunteers field assistants must be a minimum of 18 years old. We provide the necessary equipment for the fieldwork activities. Applicants must arrange their own transportation to Trinidad - Beni Department, Bolivia. We charge a fee (USD 70 per week) to cover their cost of food, accommodation and internet use. Applicants from latinamerica will have preferences at the selection process and also special conditions with the fee, depending on the capacity of applicants.
Send cover letter and resume with two references to JOSÉ ANTONIO DÍAZ LUQUE (EM: saveparrot AT gmail.com). In the cover letter indicate why you are interest to participate with us and your available dates. Individuals interested in applying to this position are strongly advised to check the cost of flights from their native country to Bolivia prior to applying to the position. Feel free to email for further information. Close Date; Until Filled.