SalvaNATURA, the BirdLife Affiliate for El Salvador and the largest and most active non-profit NGO working in the country on bird science and conservation, will hold its 7th annual maratón-de-aves (or bird-a-thon) this year on October 17th and 18th. The two-day event raises funds to support five full-time bird monitoring stations located in western El Salvador. Active since 2003, these stations have banded more than 14,000 individual birds of 197 species including 5 species new for the country [birders may remember reading about the Golden-cheeked Warbler that was banded and photographed at Montecristo National Park, El Salvador in September 2008]!

White-breasted Hawk Accipiter chionogaster, a NCA endemic subspecies being banded by the SalvaNATURA bird monitoring team at Montecristo NP (also a site visited during the bird-a-thon).
Photo by Lety Andino.

(From Birdathon Website) The pledge form for this year’s VII Annual SalvaNATURA Bird-A-Thon is now ready on the Birdathon website. If you have donated in the past, then you should be receiving an email from us. The pledge form will offer you several methods for making a donation including directly through The Resource Foundation. Directions for doing so are found at the bottom of this blog site. There are several nice supporting gifts available to donors including a t-shirt, 2010 calendar, and a CD of bird sounds from El Salvador. Or you can take the Bird-A-Thon Challenge! Please see the pledge form for more details.

Please support us by making a donation or joining a team, you can make a huge difference in this small country.

For more information, please visit our blog site: http://birdathones.blogspot.com/

Volcan Izalco from Cerro Verde (a highland site visited during the bird-a-thon).
Photo by Jesse Fagan

(From BirdLife International) Our mission is to contribute to the recovery and conservation of the environment and natural resources, in order to achieve sustainable development, and improve the quality of life in El Salvador and the Mesoamerican region.

(From SalvaNATURA “Aims and Objectives”) SalvaNATURA fue creada en 1990 por iniciativa de un grupo de profesionales interesados en impulsar el desarrollo sostenible en El Salvador.

Sus fundadores se trazaron el firme propósito de contribuir efectivamente a la recuperación y conservación del medio ambiente y los recursos naturales, por medio de una organización privada, apolítica, sin fines de lucro y con autonomía institucional.

La organización nace bajo el nombre de Fundación Ecológica de El Salvador, en el seno del Club Activo 20-30. En 1992, por decisión de la Junta Directiva, se elige el nombre SalvaNATURA, un juego de palabras que para los fundadores significa la misión de salvar la naturaleza de El Salvador.

OBJETIVOS

1. Proteger y manejar áreas naturales.
2. Desarrollar conocimiento científico sobre la Biodiversidad.
3. Promover Buenas Prácticas Agrícolas y la Certificación Sostenible.
4. Desarrollar Educación Ambiental.

SalvaNATURA logo created by Carlos Funes

With thanks to Jesse Fagan, 2009 Bird-A-Thon Coordinator and a guide with Field Guides Inc for the information and photographs.