Give Macaws a Merry Christmas

This expedition will take you down to South America in the Peruvian rainforest. The Macaws native to the area are the animals you will be examining. This is not just any old bird watching excursion with some binoculars, you will not only be hiking through the rainforest with experienced leaders, but also get to take a riverboat down stream.

This opportunity is unique in comparison to other travel abroad conservation programs for two reasons, one being that the trip dates are a few days before Christmas, and the second is that you will be a leader to the tourists rather than just being led by the experts.

I personally think that both of these unique aspects are essential to spread the idea of eco travel opportunities. I feel that there are a great deal of people that may not go home for Christmas, or maybe they wish to use their holiday time doing something different.

The experience is somewhat different when you become the expert leading people on the expedition, it proves how much you are learning and it is always a good resume add.

The dates are December 11 through the 22. December will not be a cold month in Peru, since it's seasons are opposite ours up here in the Northern hemisphere, so that's a plus, you could return with a tan.

The program is offered by Earthwatch, you can find information about other possible excursions on the Web site.

"You will observe scarlet, blue and gold, and red and green macaws at clay licks, and record their daily behavior and reactions to visiting tourists," according to the Web site.

You will be the observer and recorder of the birds' behavior, mostly the nesting rituals. You need to find out what kind of activity occurs within the nest, when the parents are present and when they are not, and what kinds of food are brought to the chicks by the mother.


The nesting rituals are important to preserve the natural Peruvian habitat for the Macaws, and to ensure that the impacts of ecotourism are minimal to the Macaws survival for many years to come.

The research site is called Puerto Maldonado, it is located amongst 50 meter tall trees and in this area hunting is forbidden. There are over 500 species of birds and an abundance of other species/vegetation like monkeys and giant herbs.