Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 13 augusT 2019
Venezuela's vanishing red bird gets a coffee pick-me-up

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ amateur birders. But re-
Associated Press cently a field researcher in
CARAYACA, Venezuela a remote mountain range
(AP) — Images of a tiny was robbed of his binocu-
red bird that barely fills the lars and then shot at by two
palm of one's hand appear young men on a motor-
everywhere in Venezuela cycle, Braun said. At least
— printed on money, la- one key member of their
bels of craft beer bottles research team joined a
and the cover of children's growing exodus of Venezu-
school books. elans fleeing the country.
But the finch-like red siskin "Every time I tell somebody
is vanishing from the wild we have an endangered
at an alarming rate, falling bird project in Venezuela,
prey to a century of shrink- they say, 'Oh, Venezuela?
ing forests and poachers Good luck,'" Braun said. "It's
cashing in on their brilliant a challenge."
red feathers, prized around The red siskin's primary
the world by breeders of range is the Caribbean
exotic birds. coastal region of Venezu-
That threat has brought ela, and some have been
together an international found in neighboring areas
team including scientists In this Oct. 24, 2018 photo, a Venezuelan male red siskin takes flight in Vargas, Venezuela. of Colombia and Guyana.
from the Smithsonian Insti- Associated Press Scientists carefully conceal
tution in Washington and the bird's location to pro-
poor coffee farmers in Ven- landscapes. ect's strict standards will poachers from catching it tect them from poachers,
ezuela's remote mountains, Once flourishing in the mil- win the right to market their to sell on the international but they allowed The Asso-
all set on rescuing it from lions, as few as 300 remain beans with "Bird Friendly" la- black market. ciated Press to photograph
extinction. The plan is to en- in the wild in Venezuela, bels and take advantage Online they go for more a small flock at a secret lo-
tice farmers to plant organ- although scientists say it's of a loophole in Venezu- than $300, and demand cation in their natural habi-
ic coffee groves with layers difficult to estimate their elan law to set prices for remains high in Eastern Eu- tat.
of thick branches that are numbers in the politically premium products, some- rope and Asia, scientists Catching sight of them
inviting to the endangered, turbulent and dangerous times five times higher than say. required arriving before
perching songbird, which country. price caps set by the so- Adding to challenges, poor dawn, hiding motionless
has lost a lot of its habitat. The Red Siskin Initiative cialist government. Eventu- Venezuelan families often and silently in tall grass
"They don't have many launched about three ally they hope to export the capture and sell the threat- thick with mosquitoes un-
years left, unless we do years ago on a shoe- coffee. ened bird to illegal traffick- der pouring rain. Then, the
something right now," said string budget of less than In parallel, a red siskin ers. The profit can feed their sun broke through and they
Miguel Arvelo, a veterinar- $100,000 from the U.S. Fish breeding center is being children for months, said bi- swooped in — a dozen or
ian for the Caracas-based and Wildlife Service and built at a private zoo in Ven- ologist Jhonathan Miranda, more — landing one by one
nonprofit Provita, one of private groups in the U.S. ezuela where 200 birds are a Provita researcher. on tangled tree branches
the groups spearheading and Venezuela. expected to be hatched Michael Braun, co-founder overhead, preening and
the effort. Planting organic groves next year, adding to the 25 of the Red Siskin Initiative loudly singing.
The "Cardenalito," or "Little with thick branches revers- caged at the Smithsonian and a research scientist In Carayaca, Simon Then,
Cardinal" as it is affection- es a trend among farmers Institution, forming a type at Smithsonian's National a 53-year-old blue-eyed,
ately called, holds a spe- who boost bean produc- of Noah's Ark to ensure that Museum of Natural History, blond farmer — descended
cial place in Venezuelan tion by thinning coffee the iconic species does said Venezuela's deepen- from early German settlers
culture, the poster child of groves for more sunlight, or not disappear. Red siskins ing crisis has also taken a — walks through his family's
some 1,400 bird species — cut them down altogether from the center will be in- toll. coffee grove surrounded
from the Amazon to the to plant vegetables that troduced into the coffee The oil-rich nation was for by dozens of leafy, 5-foot-
Andes — that live in one of turn a quicker profit. groves. decades a coveted des- high shrubs nestled on a
the world's most biodiverse Farmers who meet the proj- While still in its early stages, tination for naturalists and steep slope. q
backers say coffee initiative
is already showing positive
results. Some 40 farmers in
the rugged, coastal moun-
tains of Carayaca, north-
west of the capital Cara-
cas, have already stopped
cutting down trees — an
important first step to creat-
ing a robust habitat.
The tiny bird is prized for its
fiery red plumage and jet-
black hood on males, cov-
eted by breeders who cross
them with less colorful ca-
naries to produce offspring In this Oct. 10, 2018 photo, agronomist Luis Arrieta inspects cof-
This Oct. 20, 2018 photo shows Bolivar bank notes decorated of orange or red spots. fee beans that are in the germination process, to be planted
with images of Venezuela's red siskin bird, as part of rescue pro- Protection under Venezu- in fields where peaches are grown in the coastal area of Ca-
gram in Caracas, Venezuela. elan law dating back to rayaca on the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela.
Associated Press the 1940s hasn't stopped Associated Press