Threatened birds of Bolivia project

Ross McLeod

The project’s goal is to help in the conservation of all 29 of Bolivia’s globally threatened bird species and the habitats they live in. The project team will use a series of species specific conservation measures in different habitats aimed to improve the conservation status of two critically endangered (Royal cinclodes & blue-throated macaw), three endangered (Bolivian spinetail, ash-breasted tit-tyrant & Cochabamba mountain-finch) and one vulnerable bird species (Southern Horned Curassow). In parallel with this the team will organise a programme of biodiversity inventories across the country that will help determine the distributional status of two endangered, 17 vulnerable and three newly discovered endemic bird species. As part of this survey effort the team will collect data to determine the status of Bolivia’s 21 recently identified potential Important Bird Areas (IBAs) which are believed to be among the countries most important international priorities for conservation. Bolivia’s remaining two endangered and three vulnerable species are already the subject of active conservation projects in the country. This project aims to assist these and future conservation projects in two ways, first, with a series of training initiatives targeted at providing new personnel with the skills and experience to work on these projects. Second, by developing a national Ornithology Conservation Centre that will provide the infrastructure support needed to develop these initiatives into projects that will permanently conserve the species.