Captain's Log, Day 33: So many posts after such a long week! Of the many adventures I've had in Cuenca thus far, I have to say one of the more interesting ones was the chance to accompany Ernesto and Edwin (one of the keepers at Amaru Zoo) on a trip to the nearby Bioparque Tarqui Wildlife Center for an afternoon of falconry. Many people in the area don't realize the role that raptors play in Andean ecosystems, and hunting is a huge threat to already depleted raptor populations--especially eagle and condor populations. Bioparque Amaru wants to develop training programs for eagles that cannot be re-introduced to the wild, so they can begin to visit schools and communities to teach people about the important role of raptors to the area's ecosystem health. We visited the house of Fernando, both an employee of the governmental environmental administration and a director at Bioparque Tarqui, for some Black-chested Buzzard Eagle training on my second day at the zoo.
It was my first time being involved in raptor training and falconry...and it was incredible. Meeting another member of the local conservation team and learning about the older Bioparque Tarqui was equally engaging and informative.
More picture stories.
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| Right over the hill on which the zoo is situated, there are lots of farms and a few mining operations. I will talk later about the amphibian rescue efforts of the zoo when it comes to mining projects, I promise. So many PROJECTS going on. I'm finding it hard to wrap my head around just how much this zoo does for local and national conservation efforts. |
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| We drove about 45 minutes to Tarqui and Fernando's house. |
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| Past gorgeous hills, farms, and lakes- |
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| --and farm animals. Goats and cows in the roads. |
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| When we arrived, Fernando showed us his backyard holding pen for overflow animals that had been rescued by Tarqui. There were a number of geese, deer of various species, and of course--the Black-chested Buzzard Eagle couple we were there to work with. |
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| He had a pretty awesome home-made bread oven (for my reader interested in outdoor oven projects). |
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| The keepers and Fernando suited up appropriately for the training session: thick leather gloves and clips for the harnesses needed in training. |
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| This is the gorgeous female we trained all afternoon. If you look closely, you might be able to see her old left wing injury. |
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| Fernando had been working with her the longest (still only one week!), so he initiated the training. The training here is aimed mostly at acclimatizing the bird to working directly with people, so in the future the keepers can transport and hold the eagle without stressing her out. Bringing people close to eagles to inspire the kind of wonder we, as biologists, are so familiar with is important in really delivering a potent raptor conservation message. |
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| Small pieces of mice are given as rewards for a smooth step up onto the glove. Always remaining positive and keeping training a low-stress event for the eagle are key in developing trust. |
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| Because the end goal is to train birds to be comfortable with Ernesto and Edwin, they take turns in training. |
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| ...and I sit back and appreciate how beautiful and incredibly patient this eagle is. She'll be a conservation leader soon, too. The easy mice and a future large flight aviary home with members of her own species is a pretty good deal for a bird who would have otherwise died in the wild from her injuries. |
Apologies that I don't have time with my limited internet to caption all of these, but enjoy the pictures of the process!
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| For more delicate procedures with a newly trained raptor, a hood is often used for both the safety of the trainers and the stress level of the bird. Because we want to be able to weigh and monitor the health of this eagle very closely, training her to step onto scales, be at ease during close visual examinations, and be comfortable sitting on trainers' hands while they walk around during education sessions is key. Strangely, birds become less stressed when their vision of stressors is taken away--hence the hood. |
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| I stole away to get a shot of the male while they weighed the female, who allowed Fernando to put on the hood with little fuss. |
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| He can hunt for mice that are close by his perch in the field between training sessions. Successfully. |
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| The weighing process! |
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| Additional training to increase her comfort moving with a trainer. |
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| She got more and more comfortable with Edwin as the time went on. |
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| Padded leather harnesses used to transfer her to and from the perch until she is trained to fly to the trainer. |
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| Gorgeous plumage, too. She barely ruffled a feather when Edwin removed the hood, after placing her back on her porch. |
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| Thus concluded our afternoon of falconry (cetrerià) near Bioparque Tarqui! I look forward to coming back to work with Fernando and his center in the coming weeks. The zoo and the center work very closely in many of their conservation programs. |
A few more pictures of the hills behind Cuenca, because they're gorgeous.
The zoo has only been open to the public for two years now, and they are constantly expanding their education programs. Again, if any of the people reading this are looking for awesome summer opportunities abroad, check them out! They could really use the volunteers and you'll get a ton of hands-on zoo and conservation experience.
Their webpage, again: http://zoologicodecuenca.com/tag/amaru/
More Amaru adventures and information on the way later this week!
Cheers,
Nikki
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