>> CONSERVATION AWARDS NBC Conservation Awards Update Having completed a review of the NBC zones such as Golden-cheeked Warbler Setophaga Conservation Awards Programme 2001–2010 chrysoparia. (Stuart et al. 2013), this article provides updates on Training workshops were completed, with recent awards. It also marks the beginning of what 43 prospective guides and 42 local students we hope will be a regular column reporting on the participating from four communities: Santo grants awarded. Tomás and Tierra Santa in the western region of the park and Buenos Aires and Bañaderos in the The Juan Mazar Barnett Award eastern region. The workshops covered general The Neotropical Club is greatly honoured to biology, adaptation and ecology of , bird be able to announce the creation of a Juan Mazar conservation, migration, and the importance Barnett Award. The aim is to make an award of up of birds as a natural resource. By the conclusion to $2,000 to be presented once a year in memory of the workshop, guides had acquired the basics of Juan Mazar Barnett. This special award has of bird watching techniques and were familiar been made possible thanks to a generous donation with the top 20 commonest that occur in from Juan’s family. The award seeks to encourage Cusuco cloud forests. Modifications were made early-career Neotropical bird conservationists and during the workshops to tailor lessons towards researchers, and will be presented for the NBC guides with limited literacy. Evaluation during Conservation Award proposal that best captures the course included image-based identification Juan’s spirit: technical expertise combined with a and working with guides in the field on use of passion for birds and bird conservation. The rules equipment (binoculars and field guides), and for entry for the award are exactly the same as for identification of birds and their songs. The courses the standard NBC Conservation Awards, with the also covered basic monitoring and recording additional requirement that applicants must be habitat associations. This was one of the most relatively early in their careers as conservationists successful portions of the workshop: the students or researchers. enjoyed searching for birds, using equipment new to them and being able to see up close the species Ambassadors of the avifauna of that they know surround them on a daily basis. Most importantly, the guides, students and other Cusuco National Park, Honduras — members of the communities expressed gratitude US$ 1,500 that this initiative had been the first to include them or teach them about biodiversity. They told Project dates: April–May 2013 the instructors which topics they would like to Summary: The project aimed to raise awareness keep studying. The result of this workshop is a and strengthen ownership amongst local community that is eager to learn and participate in communities of their avifauna protected within future survey work with national and international the Cusuco National Park, Honduras. It tackled visitors. The most avid birdwatchers expressed an a common conservation conundrum: how to interest in solidifying their ornithological skills elevate sustainable-use values (e.g. eco-tourism or by practising alongside visiting scientists from non-timber forest products rather than extractive Operation Wallacea. They feel highly motivated industries) of an area and generate local support now that they know how to use field guides, for habitat protection rather than exploitation. use binoculars and because they have access to This local support is necessary to ensure the this equipment. Several guides that received an conservation of the park, part of the Merendón introduction to biological monitoring and the mountain range, which supports 270 bird species, organization of bird watching trips are expected to including the locally declining Green-throated use the skills further in future. Mountain-Gem Lampornis viridipallens and Fabiola RODRÍGUEZ threatened migrants wintering within the pine-oak

For full details about NBC Conservation Awards, please visit www.neotropicalbirdclub.org.

76 Neotropical Birding 14 Uncovering life history traits and Left to right Juan Bautista Pérez Rancier National Park, known conservation strategies of the Golden colloquially as ‘Valle Nuevo’, lies in the extreme eastern euchrysea, a zone of the Cordillera Central. The park comprises montane grasslands and Hispaniolan Pine forest threatened and endemic on ranging up to the highest local peak Alto Bandera the island of —US$ 1,000 at 2,842m. Valle Nuevo supports all the threatened Hispaniolan endemic birds (Justin Proctor). (2012) and US$ 1,000 (2013) Golden Tachycineta euchrysea are listed Project dates: April–July 2012 and 2013 as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, having declined The Project has spent two owing to a loss of nesting cavities following clearance field seasons in 2012 and 2013 assessing the of mature forest and hunting of the cavity-forming Hispaniolan striatus. effectiveness of 88 nest boxes erected in 2008 for Nest-boxes are providing an effective replacement nesting Golden Swallows Tachycineta euchrysea. (Justin Proctor) . The project has: a) built nest boxes, which will be Golden Swallow Tachycineta euchrysea nest success monitored each year with the help of Dominican has increased dramatically since switching boxes from students; b) completed informal presentations in trees to stand-alone artificial support posts which can local schools, raising awareness about the species be more easily predator-proofed (Justin Proctor). and its importance; and c) developed a website in which sightings of Swallows can be registered, and that informs the public on the progress of the nest boxes in place of natural cavities. These boxes project. are rat-proofed to prevent predation. Responding The project team have spent two three-month to high levels of depredation suffered by nesting field seasons in the high altitude, remote pine swallows in the tree-mounted boxes in 2012, we forests of Valle Nuevo National Park documenting relocated the nest-boxes to free standing poles the reproductive strategies of the Golden Swallow with predator guards. We simultaneously built 100 and feeding that information into monitoring and additional nest-boxes that were either added to educational outreach programs. The next two years previous nesting sites where boxes were limited or of the project are expected to have Dominican established in new locations where swallows had student involvement, extensive collaborations with been seen foraging the previous year. an array of conservation initiatives, and expansion The educational outreach component of the into other mountain ranges. project emphasizes the ecological connections The Golden Swallow has been affected between mature forest stands, healthy woodpecker historically by habitat loss, but future loss is populations, and cavity nesters (such as the unlikely within remote areas of Valle Nuevo swallow and local parrots). National Park (see photos on page 76). However, Marisol MATA and Justin PROCTOR extensive logging in the past and wild fires in the Website: http://thegoldenswallow.org/ late 20th century have left the Park with large REFERENCES expanses of early successional forest that lack Stuart, T., Bird, J. & Lees, A. C. (2013) The Neotropical Bird the natural nesting cavities that swallows need. Club Conservation Awards Programme 2001–2010. This problem is exacerbated by hunting of the Neotrop. Birding 12: 16–24. main cavity-creator, Melanerpes striatus, because it is a perceived crop pest. Furthermore Golden Swallows are predated JEZ BIRD E-mail: [email protected] by two species of introduced rats. The project is tackling these threats through the provision of

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