In 2023, I worked with Tim Laman to film Scarlet Macaws in Mexico for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We were documenting the work being done by Natura Mexicana, a Mexican conservation agency that is working to protect the last population of scarlet macaws left in Mexico.
The critical threat to macaws in this region is poaching chicks for the illegal pet trade. Poachers will climb all the way to the tops of dead trees and steal chicks right from the nest. Natura Mexicana has tried everything to stop this, but have had to turn to extreme measures to make a difference. Now, the conservationists climb the trees first, rescuing chicks before they’re poached and raising them by hand before releasing them back to the wild.
Our hope is that this film (produced in both Spanish and English) will bring attention to this issue, and provide Natura Mexicana with more tools they can use to educate people living in the area.
