Celebra las Aves en la Amazonía Peruana

In May of 2018, students, teachers, and guides in the Loreto region of Peru joined forces with Celebrate Urban Birds and CONAPAC (a Peruvian nonprofit organization focused on conserving the Peruvian Amazon) to launch the first regional citizen-science project in the area. The project, “Celebra las Aves en la Amazonía Peruana,” was co-created with teachers from the region to increase student knowledge and passion for birds in their rainforest ecosystem. Karen Purcell, the Celebrate Urban Birds Project Leader, and her colleagues have invested a significant amount of time putting together training materials for teachers and the curriculum is now being used in the schools. In addition, Karen has led teacher training for integrating interactive science into their curriculum and talking about difficult topics in the classroom, such as the use of slingshots to kill birds, capturing birds for tourism, beliefs regarding owls and other local species, and the relationship between birds and farmers.

To date, we have co-created projects in the Peruvian Amazon (Celebra las Aves en la Amazonía Peruana) and México (Celebra las Aves Urbanas en México). Regional project materials in Panamá, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Belize, and Colombia are in progress, but we depend on gifts and donations to continue doing this work. If you are interested in this project, please feel free to contact me for more information.