The Blue-throated Macaw is among the most endangered parrots in the world through poaching and habitat loss.  But there are conservation groups that are addressing one of the macaws’ most pressing problems – the lack of nest sites.  Here, Laney Rickman tells how artificial nest boxes have been erected and the successes they have brought to this vital conservation project.

The Blue-throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis) is an endemic species to Bolivia that only lives in the Llanos de Moxos of Beni, and is considered by Birdlife International 2009, as one of the most threatened species in the world. One of the main factors halting the recuperation of this species has been the lack of potential nesting sites and interspecific competition with the most common and abundant Blue and Yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna). The two macaws share the same habitat, including the rare large nesting cavities, especially considering the human impact in the Beni in the last 100 years cutting down most large deciduous trees.

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