By Brianna Randall, published June 2024 in Reasons To Be Cheerful

We stood on the rocky shore of the Mizque River in central Bolivia, binoculars trained on the towering cliff before us. The summer sun beat down as we scanned for birds. “There,” whispered my nine-year-old son. “A pair is coming.”

The red-fronted macaws were worth the wait. Teal wingtips spread, green and yellow plumage vivid against red crowns, the striking birds sailed directly overhead. After they disappeared into the forest, we turned our binoculars back to the cliff to watch a dozen more pairs flitting in and out of their nests.

Red-fronted macaws are found nowhere else on earth except Bolivia’s dry, forested Andean valleys. Like many other members of the parrot family, they have suffered from habitat loss, illegal capturing for the pet trade and conflicts with farmers who kill them for stealing crops. In 2013 only an estimated 600 red-fronted macaws remained. While the latest census from 2021 estimates nearly double that number now soar through the valleys, these tropical birds are still critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Luckily, innovative conservation agreements that improve rural landowners’ livelihoods are creating a brighter future for red-fronted macaws as well as the forests they depend upon. Many Bolivian farmers now see the bird as a boon rather than a burden, and a valuable resource worth safeguarding.

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