People and Projects of OT

Park Flight International

Principal Investigator: Carol Beidleman

Park Flight international interns reunite with biologists from the United States at a workshop in Honduras to coordinate migratory bird monitoring programs across the hemisphere. Pictured from left to right are Alexis Cerezo (Guatemala) with Rachel Mazur (Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks); Belkys Jimenez (Panama) with David Mizrahi (New Jersey Audubon Society; missing is Phil Correll, New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route); and Edgar Castañeda (Nicaragua) with Bob Kuntz (North Cascades National Park). The interns are wearing new Eagle Optics binoculars donated at the workshop to each Mesoamerican country's Park Flight grantees through the Optics for the Tropics program.

The Park Flight Migratory Bird Program works to protect shared migratory bird species and their habitats in both U.S. and Mesoamerican national parks and protected areas through developing conservation and education projects and a program of technical exchange, including international internships. These internships, where Mesoamerican biologists assist with Park Flight projects in U.S. national parks, provide an opportunity for technical and cultural exchange and enhance opportunities for collaboration on migratory bird conservation. Said Alexis Cerezo of his experience in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, where he spent ten weeks banding birds, conducting backcountry monitoring, and giving interpretive programs, "It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen in my life.