SAN RAFAEL MINI-GUIDE PROJECT SUMMARY February 06
Our volunteers:
Our third volunteer project was at the magnificent San Rafael National Park, one of the largest tracts of Atlantic forest in the country and amongst the most biologically diverse areas in Paraguay.
Our volunteers were:
Dr Attila Bankovics: The main man in Hungarian ornithology, Dr Bankovics is the head of ornithology at the Hungarian Natural History museum, as well as a very experienced birder.
Lars Hansen: A Danish schoolteacher, Lars spends his free-time ringing and has been involved in conservation work for over 25 years.
Bryan Wainwright: Still around Bryan´s experience on previous projects made him an able assistant (click here)
The aims:
San Rafael is ornithologically well-known by Paraguayan standards, so we restricted our field work to Estancia Nueva Gambach (headquarters of San Rafael conservation agency PROCOSARA) in an effort to thoroughly survey their 250ha property and produce a more complete species list. We also made occasional visits to Estancia Kanguery, a Guyra Paraguay-owned grassland property within the reserve and an Important Bird Area.
The work:
We performed a thorough inentory of the forest at PROCOSARA using visual, acoustic and other methods. In addition to the usual techniques we also employed traditional Guaraní skills to study ground birds and participated in aerial surveys over the forest canopy. Each evening a list of the birds seen with approximate numbers was collated over a cool beer. Mammals and reptiles were recorded by sight, footprint and scat data.
The results:
We recorded 243 species during the fieldwork, of which only 1 had not been previously recorded at San Rafael National Park. However we added 11 species to the list for Estancia Nueva Gambach, taking their total up to 311 species. The total list for San Rafael National Park is now 403. We obtained morphometric and detailled plumage data from a total of 52 different species. To read the full report of the fieldwork follow the link at the top of the page or (click here).
What the volunteers said:
Lars Hansen - I was amazed to see the high diversity of birds in San Rafael, but surprised by how threatened the Atlantic forest and its birds still are in South America. More birders should go there, have a great experience like I did and try to help out"
Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this web-site were taken by Paul Smith, Hemme Batjes, Regis Nossent,
Alberto Esquivel, Arne Lesterhuis, Rebecca Zarza and Hugo del Castillo and are used with their permission.
