Monthly Report submission for Park Flight from Carol Beidleman for May
2007:

Costa Rican Biologist Assists Park Flight at Oregon Caves

Biologist Marcelo Araya Salas from Costa Rica started a 6-month
international internship in May for the Park Flight Migratory Bird
Program project at Oregon Caves National Monument. This assistance was
facilitated through cooperation with Klamath Bird Observatory, a project
partner. Marcelo will assist with mist-netting for landbirds at a
constant effort banding station at Oregon Caves, which is part of the
NPS Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Program. He will also assist with
area searches, aquatic bird surveys, and with public interaction and
interpretation at banding demonstrations and International Migratory
Bird Day events. Marcelo has done bird studies and monitoring in several
national parks and preserves in Costa Rica. The skills he will acquire
during this internship will allow him to assist with some new MoSI
stations (measuring over-wintering survival of migratory birds in the
Neotropics) and environmental education efforts in Costa Rica. This
technical exchange was coordinated through the NPS Office of
International Affairs' International Volunteers in Parks program. For
more information, contact Carol Beidleman at 970-586-3776.

Panamanian Biologist Assists Park Flight at Fire Island

Biologist Mauricio Hoyos Gracia from Panama started an 18-week
international internship in May for the Park Flight Migratory Bird
Program project at Fire Island National Seashore. Mauricio will assist
resource management staff with management and monitoring of breeding
shorebirds, primarily the Piping Plover, through observations,
population surveys, nest searches, and erecting public use closures and
predator enclosures. He will also talk with park visitors, students, and
members of the local Latino community about the park's Threatened and
Endangered Species monitoring effort, the problems faced by the many
birds which breed in the U.S. and winter in countries to the south, and
the bird conservation work being done in Panama. Mauricio has worked as
a naturalist guide for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at
the Barro Colorado Natural Monument in Panama, with the MoSI (Monitoreo
de Sobrevivencia Invernal) program, which measures over-wintering
survival of migratory birds in the Neotropics, and has developed a bird
banding exchange between underprivileged high school students in Panama
and a private school in the U.S. This technical exchange was coordinated
through the NPS Office of International Affairs' International
Volunteers in Parks program. For more information, contact Carol
Beidleman at 970-586-3776.

Nicaraguan Biologist Assists Park Flight at Sequoia/Kings Canyon

Biologist Alexander Acosta Antón from Nicaragua started a 13-week
international internship in May for the Park Flight Migratory Bird
Program at Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks. This NPS unit has hosted
Latin American Park Flight interns in past years. Alexander will
participate in on-site banding training and a park interpretive
operations training. He will then be teamed up with the NPS wildlife
biologist to run MAPS bird banding stations, conduct Breeding Bird
Survey routes, and monitor Peregrine Falcons; and with an NPS
interpretive supervisor to provide bilingual interpretive bird walks and
campfire programs to the public, present Latino community outreach
programs, and give a presentation to park staff on bird conservation
efforts in his home country. In Nicaragua, Alexander works with
Fundación Cocibolca, a Park Flight partner, as an interpretive
tourist/bird guide at Volcán Mombacho Natural Reserve, where he is also
the environmental education program coordinator. He has volunteered for
four years for the MoSI (Monitoreo de Sobrevivencia Invernal) program in
Nicaragua, which measures over-wintering survival of migratory birds in
the Neotropics. This technical exchange was coordinated through the NPS
Office of International Affairs' International Volunteers in Parks
program. For more information, contact Carol Beidleman at 970-586-3776.