SPRING 2002/VOLUME 16, NUMBER 2

Lab Conservation Work Crosses the Border
By ALLISON CHILDS WELLS
Leading Mexican ornithologist heads Lab's Neotropical Bird Conservation Program

Eduardo Iñigo-Elias
Did you know that more than 80 percent of North America's migrant bird species winter in Mexico - more than 300 species? Mexico also hosts all or most of the world's wintering populations of more than 45 bird species that breed in the United States and Canada-Wood Thrush, Red-faced Warbler, and Cassin's Vireo, to name a few. Conservation concerns for these species extend beyond political borders.

To strengthen our efforts to protect migratory birds, the Labhas hired Dr. Eduardo E. Iñigo-Elias to head our new Neotropical Bird Conservation Program in our Conservation Science program. To strengthen our efforts to protect migratory birds, the Lab has hired Dr. Eduardo E. Iñigo-Elias to head our new Neotropical Bird Conservation Program in our Conservation Science program. Eduardo is one of the most prominent Mexican ornithologists and conservation leaders.

An expert on Mexico's endangered birds, Eduardo is compiling statistics on the numbers of wild birds captured there for the caged bird trade - the overriding conservation issue for parrots and finches. For example, the Painted Bunting, a favorite among Mexican trappers, has declined by 60 percent in the United States during the last 35 years. Eduardo is documenting the extent of this trade and its potential effect on the species' overall decline. He's also helping to determine how trade in migratory birds should be regulated through national and international authorities and is working with Jeff Wells, Audubon's bird conservation director and Lab associate, to increase protection for these birds.

Eduardo's work has concentrated on parrots, macaws, diurnal birds of prey, and migratory passerines. He has focused on conservation issues such as correlates of forest fragmentation and wintering ecology of Neotropical migrants, community ecology of tropical forest raptors, and impacts of the live bird trade. He received his Ph.D. in 1996 from the University of Florida, Gainesville, for his work on the landscape ecology and conservation biology of the Scarlet Macaw in the Gran Peten Region of Mexico and Guatemala.

Among his many past conservation positions, Eduardo was conservation director for the World Wildlife Fund Mexico program. He held scientific and programmatic responsibilities for five globally outstanding priority ecoregions in Mexico and collaborated with other groups and rural communities to work toward more effective conservation in Mexico.

We are thrilled that Eduardo has joined our staff.

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