Tropical Conservation Newsbureau

Raptor Rapture in Veracruz
Tropical Conservation Newsbureau

January/Enero 1997

History just flew over the heads of the hardworking citizens of Veracruz state on Mexico's gulf side. Fortunately, biologists with Pronatura Veracruz, a local conservation group, were looking up. And what they witnessed was the greatest migration of hawks ever recorded in the world -- 4.5 million birds total during the fall months. This "River of Raptors" is one of the greatest unsung natural phenomena on Earth, according to Ernesto Ruelas, Pronatura's president and, at 28, a veteran hawk-watcher. The raptors, or birds that hunt, come from all over North America, funneling down through the narrow waist of Mexico and Central America to their wintering grounds. Geography and favorable winds condense the birds over Veracruz during their journeys south and north. Local farmers have always known that skeins of hawks overhead signaled changing seasons, but few people realized the magnitude of the migrations until Pronatura Veracruz began urging everyone to enjoy and conserve the soaring multitudes.

Based in the capital city of Xalapa, the group takes its message to local school children, helping them discover and esteem the heavenly pageant, and now is inviting ecotourists. "Where else can you see such a spectacle from a lounge chair?" asks Larry Maynard, Pronatura's tourism promoter. "The roof of the Hotel Bienvenidos is the best place in the world to watch hawks." Twenty species of raptors sail over Veracruz, including turkey vultures, Swainson's hawks, Mississippi kites, and kestrels, which are dynamic little falcons. Most of the hawks are broadwings traveling from the eastern United States to wintering areas from Mexico to Brazil.

But Pronatura worries that Veracruz may not always provide a safe haven for migratory birds. The state has the country's most contaminated rivers and deforestation threatens its largest remaining rainforest, called Uxpanapa. Working with a local group, Maderas del Pueblo, Pronatura hopes to establish a Farmers' Reserve in Uxpanapa. The region is home to 50,000 mostly indigenous people who were resettled there in the 1970s, displaced by a hydroelectric reservoir.

Juan Zamora, council representative of the Chinateco people in Uxpanapa, explains that the diminished soils in his settlement no longer produce crops. When Ruelas asks him what he thinks would be the best use of the land, he answers quickly: "Growing trees."

In addition to providing food, materials and income to local residents, Uxpanapa's trees can shelter the raptors and the 200 other species of migratory birds tallied by Pronatura's biologists. And dollars brought by birdwatchers will boost local economies. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Agency for International Development recently gave Pronatura Veracruz part of the money needed to build a hawk observatory. The group must raise the rest. "We can do it," says Ruelas. "Everybody will want to come to Veracruz to see the River of Raptors."

Contacts: Pronatura Veracruz, Apdo. 511, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico 91000, 28-12-8844 (tel/fax), verpronatura@laneta.apc.org (e-mail); in the U.S., Hawk Mountain, Rt. 2, Box 191, Kempton, PA 19529, 610/756-6961 (tel) 610/756-4468 (fax).

This article is provided from the Rainforest Alliance's Tropical Conservation Newsbureau, based in San Jose,Costa Rica. For more information, contact Diane Jukofsky or Chris Wille, Rainforest Alliance, Apdo. 138-2150, Moravia, San Jose, Costa Rica; Phone: 506-240-9383; Fax: 506-240-2543; Email: infotrop@sol.racsa.co.cr

Raptor Rapture in Veracruz Tropical Conservation Newsbureau

Raptor Rapture in Veracruz
Tropical Conservation Newsbureau