Songbirds

Songbirds (sometimes called caged birds) contribute to the income of Guyanese and play an important role in their culture. Song birds are caught along the coast and in the interior of Guyana and brought to the city by transporters/middlemen. Pet shop owners and market vendors buy the birds and resell them to "birders." Birders and hobbyists either care for the birds as pets or train them to be good singers for competitions ("bird sport"). Bird sport is usually held on holidays and Sunday mornings, where birds are competed ("ramped" or "raced") to decide which of a pair of birds is the best and most passionate singer.

A research project began in May 2002 and will continue until September 2003. The aim is to understand the local trade in Twa Twa (Large-billed Seed-finch, Oryzoborus crassirostris) and Towa Towa (Lesser Seed-finch, Oryzoborus angolensis) The objectives are to provide baseline information on social, cultural, economic, and ecological aspects of the trade in Oryzoborus in Guyana and to develop preliminary management recommendations based on this information.

This project arose from concerns about the increasing trade of this species and associated declines of Oryzoborus populations that had been noted by local people. During the project, we will conduct socio-economic and socio-ecological studies of the trade and population studies of Oryzoborus in the field. We will interview retailers, transporters and birders in Georgetown to assess the extent of the trade and understand the sport of birding.

Following the study in Georgetown, we plan to work with communities in North Rupununi (hopefully, Massara, Annai Central, Aranaputa and Surama) to evaluate the socio-economic value and history of the trade, and people's traditional knowledge of the natural history of the two species.

We also hope to conduct ecological surveys to obtain population estimates of Oryzoborus in several field sites, which will be suggested by the communities. The ecological surveys will evaluate the differences in dry season abundance and frequency of observation of Towa Towa and Twa Twa in areas that have been trapped and not trapped within the last three years.

>Learn more about Birds of Iwokrama