THE PROJECT BEGAN IN 1989
WHEN PERUVIAN RESEARCHERS AND ENTREPRENEURS NYCANDER
AND HOLLE FOUNDED BOTH RAINFOREST EXPEDITIONS,
A FOR-PROFIT ECOTOURISM
COMPANY, AND THE
urban roots, he has been a lifelong naturalist and bird watcher, “much to the joy of my classmates, who would pick on me for it all the way through graduate school,” he observed humorously. That early love of birds propelled him through academia, from his bachelor’s degree in natural resources at Cornell University, to his master’s degree in wildlife ecology at the University of Arizona, to his doctorate in zoology at Duke University. During these years, Brightsmith’s passion for birds focused on a growing interest in parrots. A trip to Costa Rica in graduate school sparked his fascination with tropical birds, and his first wife introduced him “to the world of crazy parrot owners,” he said. But Brightsmith credits a single book—Beissinger and Snyder’s New World Parrots in Crisis (1992)—for opening his eyes to the plight of tropical parrots. “It pointed out that we don’t know much about parrots in the wild,” he said. “They’re having serious problems. They’re highly valuable both as a tourism resource and a captive resource.
Yet, especially in the early ’90s, we knew almost nothing about where parrots breed, what they eat, or what habitats they use in the wild. It was an incredible disconnect.” Around the time he was finishing up his doctoral research in zoology at Duke, Brightsmith was introduced to the Tambopata Macaw Project. Established in 1989, the project had briefly earned international recognition for its work on parrot clay licks and macaw nesting, but since the early 1990s had been languishing. Brightsmith said he saw a golden For more information on the Tambopata Macaw Project or to come and work as a volunteer, visit www.macawproject.org. If you want to visit the site as a tourist or guest, check out Rainforest Expeditions at www.perunature.com.
63 | CVM IMPACT
TAMBOPATA MACAW PROJECT.