La Mosquitia, Honduras It’s 4:30 am. Behind the pine forest, the sun begins to illuminate the sky in bright and warm tones, accompanied by the cries of a small group of apu pauni , as the indigenous Miskito people call parakeets. The colorful feathered creatures, the country’s national bird, groom each other as they wait for Anayda Pantin Lopez, who has devoted the past 12 years to protecting them.

“I do it with a lot of love because they are like my children,” Pantin said. “I give them rice with beans, yucca and bananas. When possible, we buy bird food.”

The Miskitos live in La Mosquitia in the northeastern corner of Honduras, home to the largest wilderness area in Central America and the only place in the country where free-flying macaws live. Pantin and her husband, Santiago Lacuth Montoya, live in a small village called Mabita, where most of its residents protect these exotic birds and the rest of the wildlife around them.

Twice a day, she prepares food for the 40 to 60 macaws that come to her village to feed. Pantin also cares for a number of other birds at a rescue center, where birds captured from poachers or chicks taken from their nests are cared for until they can fly freely again. again.

Years ago, her husband supported the family by growing beans, bananas, and yucca and selling parakeets eggs and chicks as pets—not realizing that it would have a detrimental impact on the bird population. When Lacuth learned that the macaw population was in serious decline, he decided to become a protector of their nest. He confronts other poachers and tries to convince them to follow in his footsteps.

“They threatened me, but I kept my thoughts to convince people to stop poaching chicks,” said the community leader. “For many years, parakeets have helped me sell them to have money to buy food for my family. Now it’s my turn to help them.”

Before 1990, hunting and trading of wild species was legal and thousands of macaw species had disappeared, leaving some animals at risk of extinction.

Nest on pine tree

The parakeets that breed in this part of Honduras have a unique habit: they nest in towering pine trees. Elsewhere, from Mexico to the Amazon regions of Brazil, these birds often nest in tropical broadleaf forests, where trees shed their leaves seasonally.

Héctor Portillo began visiting La Mosquitia more than 20 years ago to study the species. By 2010, his research determined that the macaw population had dropped to 100 birds, compared to 500 in 2005.

Portillo’s work has attracted the attention of international organizations, such as the New York-based One Earth Conservation Foundation, which provides funding for a program to monitor and enhance parrot populations long tail with the support of indigenous residents. Former poachers were paid about $10 a day to help care for the macaws, and Panting was appointed the community’s project manager.

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“[As an organization] we are across the Americas, but the Mabita project is one of the most exciting projects we know of,” said LoraKim Joyner, founder of One Earth Conservation. for the commitment of Pantin and Lacuth and the entire community.”

During his first patrols, Lacuth and his brother found seven baby parakeets, which he then brought home for his wife to care for. Pantin immediately took on the roles of cook, nurse, and surrogate mother while the birds learned to fly. “She makes them alive,” Lacuth said. “Not everyone can do that.”

Despite having to raise their own family, including six children and other young relatives, the couple still chooses to share some of their harvest with the birds. “It’s important to take care of them,” Pantin said. “Sometimes food is scarce but we always try our best so they have something to eat.”

From November to May every year, macaws lay two to four eggs. Chicks are born with closed eyes and few feathers. During the first 10 weeks, both parents care for the chicks, feeding them 4-6 times a day. The young take 40 to 45 days to reach full size and 10 to 16 weeks to fly and learn to feed themselves.

Residents of Mabita do not know the harmful effects of extracting baby parrots from their natural environment. “In this area, we don’t see a lot of money. Before 2010, the only way to get one was to sell macaws,” said Lacouth, a former poacher turned conservationist. “Seeing they were disappearing, I decided to join the community in protecting them. The parakeets helped me survive and now it’s my turn to help them.”

Other Mabita residents have joined Lacuth and Pantin in their efforts, moving from plucking chicks from their nests to climbing trees to help conduct biological research. People learned how to handle chicks, how to measure, weigh and record information for later analysis.

Celia Lacoth, the community’s only teacher, said: “I love keeping parrots at home as pets, but Dr. LoraKim explained to us how important these birds are to nature and why Why should they be set free?

In 2014, additional funds were raised from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Britain’s Darwin Foundation to support conservation and community engagement efforts. These resources have helped systematize the process of recording and marking macaw nest trees using GPS points. The area covered by protection and surveillance has increased from about 37,000 acres in 2010 to nearly 990,000 acres today.

“Thanks to this, we were able to learn about the state of biodiversity conservation in almost the entire Mosquitia region,” Portillo said.

Dark future

Since the project began, the macaw population has grown from 500 to more than 800. However, there are fears that the progress made so far will hit a roadblock: funding for the participatory program of the community ended June 2022.

But other programs are underway to help track the animals. A center was built to teach visitors about macaws, and the Honduran government has pledged to create a “green battalion” within the military to deter poachers, ward off drug traffickers and Prevent illegal logging that can harm bird nesting sites.

Meanwhile, members of the Miskito community have vowed to continue protecting the country’s national bird.

“Now we see an increase in bird numbers,” Pantin said. “But that doesn’t change our goal, which is to continue to care for them so that our children and grandchildren have the opportunity to enjoy everything that nature has to offer us.”

Photographer Alejandro Cegarra lives in Mexico City. He photographed macaws in his hometown of Venezeia in 2022. Follow him on Instagram@alecegarra. Based in Guatemala, Jorge Rodríguez is a new contributor to National Geographic . Follow him on Twitter.