If you find yourself in the rainforest, it is almost impossible to miss the endless organized columns that army ants form. This group of ants are carnivorous and forage in swarms, raiding everything in their way. If you are not fast enough, you will fall prey to these voracious predators no matter how big you […]
Alex Wiebe, a biologist and Jonathan Franzen Fellow at the Los Amigos Bird Observatory recently broke the world record for an on-foot Big Day, recording 347 species in a single day. A Big Day is a competitive birding ‘race,’ in which the contestant attempts to see or hear as many different bird species as they […]
We expanded our environmental education initiative in the Madre de Dios region of Peru – an area heavily affected by illegal gold mining and deforestation. In 2018, we partnered with 5 educational institutions and have initially engaged 75 youth, between 10 to 16 years of age, in a unique environmental education program. The program teaches […]
For the past three years, the organization Amazon Conservation has been working to establish a sustainable, local-based drones program for environmental monitoring in the southern Peruvian Amazon (Madre de Dios region). This program is based on two types of drones, multi-rotor (helicopter style) and fixed-wing (airplane style). One of the main objectives is to improve the near real-time monitoring of deforestation […]
The Ecuadorian Amazon is experiencing a growing number of conflicts directly related to oil and mining extraction projects. Here, we focus on the “Mirador” mining project, an open pit copper mine in the Cordillera del Cóndor, a mountain range along the Ecuador/Peru border that hosts a high level of endemism. We show a series of satellite images that highlight both […]
Deforestation Hotspots in the Ecuadorian Amazon Here, we highlight deforestation hotspots, the areas with the highest deforestation densities, in the mega-diverse Ecuadorian Amazon. We then zoom in and focus on a dynamic area in the north that is located between three important protected areas (Sumaco, Yasuní y Cuyabeno). We show a series of satellite images that indicate that the primary […]
In 2018, four exceptional students and/or professionals were chosen as our Franzen Fellows. Jointly, their passion for birds has led them to pursue work in the Amazon rainforest in order to protect this great frontier. Currently, the Los Amigos Bird Observatory (LABO) is hosting two of its fellows, Alex Wiebe and Will Sweet. In this […]
Normally when you go out looking for birds, you look for the most colorful ones, or listen for those with the most beautiful songs. We often forget that cryptic birds have a beauty of their own. Vultures are not terribly eye-catching but they serve an important role in the ecosystem as the clean-up crew. Vultures […]
We have reported extensively on the ongoing gold mining deforestation crisis in the southern Peruvian Amazon (see Archive), estimating the loss of over 17,500 acres in the five years between 2013 and 2017. Here, we present new analysis showing that the destruction continues in 2018: we estimate an additional 4,265 acres during the first six months (January – June). This most recent deforestation is […]
Last summer, I completed my first field season at the Los Amigos Biological Station. My research focused on sampling and identifying dung beetles across a variety of habitats. As an avid birder and student of ornithology, I spent my time off birding, and quickly realized I wanted to come back to the station to complete […]
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