Page 32 - AT

A32 FEATURE
Monday 5 noveMber 2018
Venezuela's vanishing red bird gets a coffee pick-me-up

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ lars and then shot at by two
Associated Press young men on a motor-
CARAYACA, Venezuela cycle, Braun said. At least
(AP) — Images of a tiny one key member of their
red bird that barely fills the research team joined a
palm of one's hand appear growing exodus of Venezu-
everywhere in Venezuela elans fleeing the country.
— printed on money, la- "Every time I tell somebody
bels of craft beer bottles we have an endangered
and the cover of children's bird project in Venezuela,
school books. they say, 'Oh, Venezuela?
But the finch-like red siskin Good luck,'" Braun said. "It's
is vanishing from the wild a challenge."
at an alarming rate, falling The red siskin's primary
prey to a century of shrink- range is the Caribbean
ing forests and poachers coastal region of Venezu-
cashing in on their brilliant ela, and some have been
red feathers, prized around found in neighboring areas
the world by breeders of of Colombia and Guyana.
exotic birds. Scientists carefully conceal
That threat has brought the bird's location to pro-
together an international In this Oct. 24, 2018 photo, a Venezuelan male red siskin takes flight in Vargas, Venezuela. tect them from poachers,
team including scientists Associated Press but they allowed The Asso-
from the Smithsonian Insti- ciated Press to photograph
tution in Washington and landscapes. win the right to market their black market. Online they a small flock at a secret lo-
poor coffee farmers in Ven- Once flourishing in the mil- beans with "Bird Friendly" la- go for more than $300, and cation in their natural habi-
ezuela's remote mountains, lions, as few as 300 remain bels and take advantage demand remains high in tat.
all set on rescuing it from in the wild in Venezuela, of a loophole in Venezu- Eastern Europe and Asia, Catching sight of them
extinction. The plan is to en- although scientists say it's elan law to set prices for scientists say. required arriving before
tice farmers to plant organ- difficult to estimate their premium products, some- Adding to challenges, poor dawn, hiding motionless
ic coffee groves with layers numbers in the politically times five times higher than Venezuelan families often and silently in tall grass
of thick branches that are turbulent and dangerous price caps set by the so- capture and sell the threat- thick with mosquitoes un-
inviting to the endangered, country. cialist government. Eventu- ened bird to illegal traffick- der pouring rain. Then, the
perching songbird, which The Red Siskin Initiative ally they hope to export the ers. The profit can feed their sun broke through and they
has lost a lot of its habitat. launched about three coffee. children for months, said bi- swooped in — a dozen or
"They don't have many years ago on a shoe- In parallel, a red siskin ologist Jhonathan Miranda, more — landing one by one
years left, unless we do string budget of less than breeding center is being a Provita researcher. on tangled tree branches
something right now," said $100,000 from the U.S. Fish built at a private zoo in Ven- Michael Braun, co-founder overhead, preening and
Miguel Arvelo, a veterinar- and Wildlife Service and ezuela where 200 birds are of the Red Siskin Initiative loudly singing.
ian for the Caracas-based private groups in the U.S. expected to be hatched and a research scientist In Carayaca, Simon Then,
nonprofit Provita, one of and Venezuela. next year, adding to the 25 at Smithsonian's National a 53-year-old blue-eyed,
the groups spearheading Planting organic groves caged at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, blond farmer — descend-
the effort. with thick branches revers- Institution, forming a type said Venezuela's deepen- ed from early German set-
The "Cardenalito," or "Little es a trend among farmers of Noah's Ark to ensure that ing crisis has also taken a tlers — walks through his
Cardinal" as it is affection- who boost bean produc- the iconic species does toll. family's coffee grove sur-
ately called, holds a spe- tion by thinning coffee not disappear. Red siskins The oil-rich nation was for rounded by dozens of leafy,
cial place in Venezuelan groves for more sunlight, or from the center will be in- decades a coveted des- 5-foot-high shrubs nestled
culture, the poster child of cut them down altogether troduced into the coffee tination for naturalists and on a steep slope. His eyes
some 1,400 bird species — to plant vegetables that groves. amateur birders. But re- fill with emotion showing off
from the Amazon to the turn a quicker profit. While still in its early stages, cently a field researcher in the red cherries starting to
Andes — that live in one of Farmers who meet the proj- backers say coffee initiative a remote mountain range appear without the use of
the world's most biodiverse ect's strict standards will is already showing positive was robbed of his binocu- chemicals.q
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
of orange or red spots.
Protection under Venezu- In this Oct. 10, 2018 photo, agronomist Luis Arrieta inspects cof-
This Oct. 20, 2018 photo shows Bolivar bank notes decorated elan law dating back to fee beans that are in the germination process, to be planted
with images of Venezuela's red siskin bird, as part of rescue pro- the 1940s hasn't stopped in fields where peaches are grown in the coastal area of Ca-
gram in Caracas, Venezuela. poachers from catching it rayaca on the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela.
Associated Press Associated Press
to sell on the international