|
|
|
|
Teaming research with education to promote conservation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Teaming research with education to promote conservation |
|
|
|
|
Anyone who has worked with biologists in Latin America knows what a challenge it can be for Spanish-speaking people to learn about birds and bird identification using an English-language bird field guide. The Kaufman Guía de Campo a las Aves de Norteamérica (the Spanish-language version of the Kaufman Guide to the Birds of North America) has changed that. The Sonoran Joint Venture is a partnership of organizations and individuals that share a common commitment to the conservation of the unique birds and habitats of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Founded in 1999, the SJV works with partners in both the United States and Mexico to achieve on-the-ground bird and bird habitat conservation. One of biggest needs in the Mexican portion of the SJV region is basic training for biologists, educators, landowners, and others with an interest in birds and bird habitat.
Although having field guides in English made it challenging, workshop participants still gained basic skills in how to use a field guide and binoculars to identify and monitor birds. But when you don't have your own field guide or binoculars, it makes it very difficult to put your new skills to use. The publication of the Kaufman Guía de Campo a las Aves de Norteamérica has provided the SJV (and Spanish-speakers everywhere) with a fabulous new tool. Participants in our workshops are now able to not only look at the pictures in a field guide, but read about habitat, behavior, diet, and other important life history information about birds. And thanks to the generous donations of members and supporters of Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Tucson Audubon Society, Sonoran Audubon Society, and the Sky Island Alliance, the SJV has been able to provide each workshop participant with his or her own copy of the Guía.
There were audible gasps of disbelief from throughout the room and the entire group proceeded to break out into spontaneous applause. It was enough to find out that this resource existed; to learn that everyone was getting his or her own copy at no cost was truly unbelievable.
Each time we have offered a workshop we end up with a waiting list of hopeful participants that far exceeds our capacity. At the moment we have more bird guide training workshops planned for the Colorado River delta, Puerto Peñasco, and the Río Santa Cruz (in Sonora). We are also planning some more general bird ecology workshop for undergraduate students at the University of Sonora, the Centro para Estudios Superiores del Estado de Sonora, both located in Hermosillo, and the University of the Sierra, in Moctezuma, Sonora. The Guía will be an integral part of all of these workshops, and with the support of groups like BSBO, we will be able to continue to distribute books free of charge.
On behalf of the Sonoran Joint Venture and all of our partners and workshop participants, I want to thank the Black Swamp Bird Observatory and all of their partners, and especially, Kenn and Kim Kaufman, whose commitment to getting these Spanish language guides into the hands of people who need them (and Kenn's commitment to getting the guide translated and printed in the first place) made this all possible. It is much appreciated by groups like the SJV, but most importantly, by the biologists, educators, students, and individuals in Latin America and Spanish speakers in the United States who finally have a field guide written in their own language. Purchasing a single book may not seem like much, but that simple act, when multiplied by many people, has a tremendous positive impact on bird and bird habitat conservation efforts in the SJV region. To learn more about the work of the Sonoran Joint Venture, please visit our website at http://www.sonoranjv.org. To learn more about the BSBO/SJV collaborative effort to get Guías to Mexico click here. Last updated on Monday, November 03, 2008 |
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
The
SJV has offered a number of training workshops over the
past year, focusing on topics including how to be a bird
guide, basic bird identification, and bird monitoring.
Initially we went to these workshops armed with a stack
of ten copies of the English version of the Kaufman
Guide to the Birds of North America (generously donated
by the Houghton-Mifflin Company), a hodge-podge of other
English language North American field guides, and a
handful of donated pairs of binoculars of varying
quality. 
When
the Guía was published, Tucson Audubon Society (TAS),
the Sky Island Alliance, and the SJV partnered to host a
series of special events in and around Tucson and
Nogales, Arizona, promoting the book to Spanish-speaking
residents. TAS members were also encouraged to purchase
a copy of the book in honor or memory of someone to
donate to the SJV for distribution in Mexico. Kenn and
Kim Kaufman were there, leading bird walks, signing
books, and promoting the new Spanish language Guía. Over
the course of three days TAS members purchased 80 copies
of the Guía for donation to SJV partners in Mexico. At
the end of the weekend, Kenn, Kim, and I briefly talked
about how Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) could help
continue this effort. Within a few months the SJV
received several boxes full of copies of the Guía,
autographed by the author, purchased by BSBO and Ohio
Ornithological Society members and supporters. Since we
started this collaboration, the SJV has distributed
nearly 250 copies of the Guía throughout northwest
Mexico, including the states of Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja
California, and Baja California Sur. Additional Guías
have been donated to SJV partners in Mexico City,
Ecuador, Arizona, and New Mexico. 
It is
difficult to describe in words what this book means to
people living and working in northern Mexico or working
with Spanish-speakers in the United States. A brief
story from our recent bird guide training workshop in
Alamos, Sonora, perhaps does the best job. We begin the
workshop by teaching participants some basic bird
ecology and physiology and move into techniques for
identifying birds and using field guides. When we get to
the "how to use a field guide" section, we pass out the
Guías. At this workshop, as I passed them out, I
explained that everyone was going to get his or her own
copy to keep, for free, because the books had been
donated by members of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory
and Tucson Audubon Society. In addition, I informed them
that each book had been signed by the author, who had
paid for the translation out of his own pocket, because
he knew how important it was to have this resource
available in Spanish. 
About
half of the books donated so far have been given to
workshop participants. The rest have found homes with a
wide range of SJV partners, including university
students, environmental education organizations,
biologists working in bird conservation, and nascent
ecotourism efforts. Groups who have been the recipient
of donated books include a Scout Troop in La Paz, Baja
California Sur, the indigenous Comcaác community at
Desemboque, Sonora (the SJV trained a team of Comcaác in
bird monitoring techniques), biologists in the Sierra La
Laguna Biosphere Reserve at the southern tip of Baja,
the Fundación Aves Ecuador, and ranchers, small-scale
fishers, and rural landowners in Mexico who are starting
to become interested in the birds they have on their
land. 