N.H. students connect with birding pen pals in Belize

It’s International Migratory Bird Day, and we’ve got a perfect story to share on this day bringing attention to the spectacular bird migrations connecting people and places from across the Americas.

Not everyone is aware of the diversity of birds around the world, the amazing migrations some take, and the phenomenal range of behaviors, plumages, and songs they exhibit. International Migratory Bird Day 2014 shares the many ways in which birds matter to the earth, to ecosystems, and of course, to us. – Environment for the Americas

Third-grade students in Canterbury, New Hampshire, have become pen pals with the Golden Stream School in Belize. Our staff recently visited the Canterbury school to deliver letters from Belize and teach the students about the migratory birds that they share during different parts of the year, such as red-eyed vireo, yellow warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, magnolia warbler, black-and-white warbler, northern waterthrush, gray catbird, least flycatcher, eastern kingbird, and wood thrush.

The hooded warbler winters in Belize and summers as far north as the mid-Atlantic. Photo courtesy of Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education.

Yellow breasted chats winter in Belize and summer as far north as the mid-Atlantic. Photo courtesy of Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education.

Wood thrush in Belize. Credit: Molly Sperduto/USFWS

Some yellow warblers winter in Belize and return to New England in the summer to breed. Photo courtesy of Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education.

Gray catbird. Some of this species winter in Belize and summer in New England. Photo courtesy of Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education.

The red-capped manakin occurs from southeast Mexico south through Central America to Panama, and then along the Pacific slope of South America to northwest Ecuador. Photo courtesy of Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education.

The children were so excited to learn about their new friends, bursting with questions like, What do they eat? What sports do they like? What games do they play? What’s their favorite animal?

“The pen pal project is expanding the children’s world – I felt like I was watching them grow as they imagined these new friends in a far away place and then saw how real they were through their pictures and letters,” said Molly Sperduto of our New England Field Office. “It was amazing to be a part of that connection.”

Students from Golden Stream Government School, Belize. Photo courtesy of Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education.

Students from Canterbury Elementary School, Canterbury, New Hampshire. Credit: USFWS

Letters from New Hampshire are now on their way to Belize. Both classes have read Mary Lyn Ray’s book about the wood thrush, “Welcome, Brown Bird.”

Biologist Molly Sperduto with students of the Golden Stream Government School. Credit: USFWS

“We listened to the sounds of a wood thrush, and hands shot up as many exclaimed that they’ve heard that bird in their backyard,” Molly said. “When the wood thrush returns to New Hampshire, we’re going out to listen for them in the woods around the school.”

The program is part of an effort to educate people about the need for conservation throughout a bird’s life cycle and range. It complements other work that we’re doing in Belize–working with Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education to restore winter forest habitat to support neotropical migrants that were affected at the Nyanza Chemical Waste Dump Superfund Site in Massachusetts.

Happy International Migratory Bird Day!

Growing chocolate for the birds

It’s conservation abroad! Five 30-acre southern Belize farms have begun the conversion to shade-grown cacao.

Our partner, the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education, tells us the community and farmers were excited to show off the new nursery that they and BFREE have set up. Credit: BFREE

What makes it outside the box? The funding comes from a $3.7 million restoration settlement with companies responsible for contaminating the land and water around an Ashland, Mass., industrial site. The settlement was reached in 1998 for natural resources harmed by mercury and other contaminants at the Nyanza Chemical Superfund site.

An example of a cacao forest, which provides habitat for overwintering birds. Credit: BFREE

How is it going down? Interested farmers will transition from intensive agricultural to sustainable agroforestry for cacao. Cacao, unlike pineapple and banana, can be grown under a mixed forest that provides great feeding and resting habitat for neotropical migratory songbirds and nesting habitat for resident songbirds. Farmers will be trained and receive funds to reforest cleared land and develop shade-grown agriculture, providing significant cost-effective benefits to birds and remaining economically sustainable for the local community!

What birds will benefit? Species likely to benefit include a number of songbirds: red-eyed vireo, yellow warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, magnolia warbler, black-and-white warbler, northern waterthrush, gray catbird, least flycatcher, eastern kingbird, wood thrush. Many of these were also impacted from contamination resulting from the Nyanza site.

Black and white warbler. Credit: Jeff Koch

Who’s doing it? The funding was allocated with public input by the government natural resource agencies in Massachusetts (called natural resource trustees), including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education is overseeing the effort on the ground.

Settlement funds will also go to 10 other projects restoring migratory and coldwater fish habitat; protect land to conserve wildlife habitat; create public access to the river in Ashland and Sudbury; create a nature preserve in Framingham and Ashland; and control invasive aquatic weeds in the Sudbury River to improve recreation and wildlife habitats and diversity.

Here’s an example of a degraded farm/banana growing operation. Farmers will convert from these to sustainable agroforestry for cacao. Credit: Mark Barash/DOI

A photo of the nursery for the cacao plants. Credit: BFREE

A farmer signing a reforestation contract. Credit: BFREE

These natural resource damage settlements fund restoration projects where the contamination occurred or at an alternate location which, when restored, provides a suitable replacement for the injured or lost resources. Sometimes the responsible party donates land to be restored and protected. Restoration can also be in the form of restoring populations of injured resources such as birds or freshwater mussels.

In this situation, funds are going to help birds that visit the Sudbury River watershed but that need conservation in their wintering grounds. With a relatively small investment of restoration dollars, we are already having an impact on restoring habitat for neotropical migrants in Central America.

Read more about the Belize project in the restoration plan.