Growing up twenty-five years ago on her family’s farm deep in Colombia’s Andean highlands, Alba Lucia Morales was often tasked with keeping hungry parrot flocks away from her father’s corn crop. Although the large flocks of Yellow-eared Parrots, which descended like green clouds, could devour his harvest if left undisturbed, Alba’s father, unlike other farmers, did not kill them. Instead, he took his daughter to the fields and taught her to build scarecrows and plastic snares that snapped in the wind to keep the birds away.

Though she still lives in the mountains of Colombia’s Antioquia Department, much has changed since Alba’s scarecrow-building days. She is now a single mother raising two boys of her own, and of the many difficulties she faces, fending off groups of Yellow-eared Parrots  is not one. The large flocks of forty or more birds she often witnessed as a child have become memories.

Lacking a formal ecological training, the loss of the parrots was a mystery to Alba. Nevertheless, after spending so much time among the gregarious birds growing up she keenly felt their absence.

As it turned out, the disappearance had much to do with the rich growing soils found in Colombia’s Central Andes. Farmers and herders, enticed by these productive soils, cleared ninety-five percent of the original forest in this part of the country. With the forest gone – especially the towering wax palm upon which the Yellow-eared Parrot depends for nesting sites and food – its population went into what looked like a terminal spin. During a 1999 census, only eighty-one of this species, endemic to Colombia, were counted.

With the Yellow-eared Parrot teetering on the brink of extinction, our Colombian partner ProAves jumped into action and began a long-term project to save the species. With our support, ProAves was able to buy and save 7,448 acres of critical habitat as part of a fourteen-mile-long Yellow-eared Parrot Conservation Corridor. With the creation of a reserve and the installation of artificial nesting boxes (necessitated by the lack of mature wax palms) the Yellow-ear Parrot population rebounded. With current population tallies at approximately 1,500, the parrot’s comeback has become one of Latin America’s great conservation success stories.

Much of this success is due to the support of local people that participated in protecting the bird. Perhaps none more than Alba and her sons.

To support her two sons, Martín and Octavio, Alba works as an administrator on the El Imperio farm, which is adjacent to ProAve’s Yellow-eared Parrot Reserve, but nearly all her free time is dedicated to the parrots. She volunteers to lead tourists to the parrot’s nests, has worked on securing the reserve’s borders, and has taught herself much about the local flora and fauna, which she eagerly shares with visitors.

“Before the reserve was mainly visited by researchers, but Alba’s support has made it possible for tourists and a lot of non-academic visitors to see the parrot and support its conservation. In that way she has helped build a whole new group of supporters,” said Alejandro Grajales, a staff member on ProAves’ conservation team.

While Alba’s daily responsibilities at the reserve are important, her greatest contribution may wind up being her role in sparking interest and support for the Yellow-eared Parrot. Her gift of connecting people with the parrots is unmatched. After serving guests a hot cup of coffee or tea to fend off the mountain cold, she personally escorts many tourists to the nesting site, spilling information and enthusiasm along the way.

“For her there is nothing more satisfying than helping people see the parrots and leave with a smile on their faces,” Grajales noted.
Alba’s quest to protect the parrots is more than a personal mission. Her passion has inspired another generation of supporters – principally her sons – to continue the project. In educating her boys, she took her father’s message of respect for the parrots a step farther and has imparted them both with a love of nature and a sense of responsibility towards the surrounding landscape. These lessons have already produced results.

Like his mother, Martín, who is 15, spends his free-time guiding tourists and helping to protect the parrots. After several years of bird watching, Martín developed a strong interest in photography and now spends many of his evenings photographing the parrots.

Adopting the hobby was not easy. With the savings from several months of labor in hand, Martín, who works as a laborer at El Imperio , was forced last year to choose between his growing interest in photography and the practical necessities of farm life. Urged by others to buy a cow and calf, Martín declined and instead used the money to buy the digital camera he uses now.

Alba’s younger son, twelve-year-old Octavio, attends school in a nearby town during the week, but joins Martín on the weekends to explore the reserve and lead tourists. (Due to the costs involved, Alba was faced with the tough choice of choosing one son to attend school; she chose Octavio.) According to Grajales, the two boys, whom he describes as “emerging environmentalists,” are the best guides to visit the reserve with.

With the Yellow-eared Parrot population now rebounding, Alba is pleased with the results; but she hasn’t lessened her efforts. The parrots, which have yet to return in the numbers she saw as a child, remain an endangered species and agricultural expansion is a constant threat to unprotected parrot habitat. Meanwhile, starting with her two boys, Alba continues to build support for the parrots one visitor at a time.

View photos of the reserve and Alba’s family by clicking here.

To watch Alba and Martín tell their own story, please click on the video below.