Great Green Mcaw

In the south eastern corner of Costa Rica, deep in the jungle, is a most sacred and protected space.  With our all wheel drive rental car we set off to Ara Manzanillo Preserve. Off the two lane main road, we traveled down twisting and turning dirt roads, finally ascending up a couple of fairly steep hill until we came upon the preserve for the magnificent green macaw.

One might think that with so much rain forest jungle that the speculator winged ones would be plenty. The sad truth is that animal trafficking (selling the exotic birds illegally to humans who think it cute to capture and cage birds) and the logging have wrecked havoc on the green macaw population.

Costa Rica has cracked down on the illegal capture and transfer of these birds buts sadly there is still an overseas market. Yet it has been the clear cutting of land for ranches, taking with it the almond tree, which is the main source of food for the macaw, that has caused the most damage. The Ara Manzanillo preserve has planted thousands of almond trees which has allowed the macaw to populate and thrive.  Our energetic and enthusiastic guide told us about the history of the land, the birds and their efforts to help these endangered birds continue to thrive. They limit the amount of visits of a few dozen a day, which keeps us humans from disturbing their peace. The guide gathered up some almonds for us to try and crack. It was quickly learned that macaw have some powerful jaws because almonds are hard nuts to crack!

We were in awe by these vibrant birds, with their wide wing spans, their playful and territorial natures. They were loud and happy and free. It was truly a blessing to see so many of them. When we left I thought that would be the last I would see of the green macaw and I was more than okay with that. However, I was very surprised the next morning, when sitting outside just past dusk to see a handful of them take flight outside our villa in the jungle. I am not sure if those I saw were originally from the area just south of us but it made my heart smile to see that these birds were indeed thriving.