NEWBURYPORT — What do birds in Belize have in common with those on Plum Island?
More than you think.
"Conservation activities in Central and South America are critical to our North American habitat," Joppa Flats sanctuary director Bill Gette said.
For the past month, Vladimir Rodriguez and Elmar Requena, naturalists from Belize, have been working as interns at the Joppa Flats Education Center, teaching people about birding, as well as the value their work can have on other places.
"The birds need a place to spend the winter, and the conservation organizations they work for protect those areas," Gette said.
Rodriguez and Requena are participants in the Mass Audubon Joppa Flats International Intern Program. Accustomed to the wildlife in the Central American country, the two have found local birding to be an eye-opening experience.
"It's been a life experience for me," Requena said, noting that this was his first time visiting the United States.
"I've become a much better educator on issues that affect migratory species of birds," Rodriguez said. "Seeing birds up here puts a different perspective on it that I can bring with me when I go back. When birds come down to Belize, they've lost their plumage and they don't sing — seeing where they breed and hatch is completely different."
Joppa Flats International Intern program, now in its sixth year, invites naturalist guides to stay with a Joppa volunteer and spend four weeks in New England enhancing their leadership skills through participation in birding programs and field trips.
The goal of the intern program, co-sponsored by the American Birding Association, is to develop natural history and conservation ambassadors and support eco-tourism and conservation in the guides' home countries.
Rodriguez and Requena, who leave for home on Monday, spent yesterday afternoon sifting through constructionpaper thank-you cards, decorated with Belize flags and maps, made by local children who have benefitted from the duo's presentations to area schools.
"It's surprising," Rodriguez said. "It tells us that when you do a presentation for these students, you aren't just talking, you're making a connection. It's very special."
Gette said the pair enriched Joppa's programs by teaching students not only about the Belize ecosystem, habitat and animals, but about the country's culture, as well.
"How many students in Newburyport schools have seen a person from Belize? Then to have these people be experts on natural wildlife?" Gette said. "They helped students be aware of the beautiful country, the wonderful stories of the indigenous people, and to have a better appreciation of the life around us."
Requena said that students were very interested in the animals of Belize, as well as the country's stories and folklore, languages, and especially the main foods — rice, beans, fried fish and tamales.
"If we had more time, we would have prepared rice and beans for them," Rodriguez said.
During the program, Rodriguez took an interest in bird banding — capturing and analyzing birds, as the pair were able to participate in ongoing Joppa Flats research, as well as programs for adults and children.
"I've loved being out in the field bird-watching," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez works for the Programme for Belize as the field station manager at LaMilpa on the Rio Bravo Conservation Area, in the northwestern part of the country, where he is responsible for approximately 4.6 percent of the country's total land mass. He also pursues his birding passion by teaching children in his neighborhood.
"Vladimir knows a tremendous amount of natural history, and knows how to run a nature reserve," Gette said.
Requena has a degree in natural resource management from the University of Belize and works with the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment, as a terrestrial/freshwater biologist. He has worked with several conservation organizations, and also helps with summer camps and soccer camps in Belize.
"They are both working on ways on how to do things in a sustainable way — farming, forestry and other practices," Gette said. "Both men and their organizations play a very important role in their country to preserve its ecology."
For Joppa Flats, the program allows them to build relationships and work with these conservation organizations, which sponsor the interns.
In February, Joppa Flats staff members are going to the LaMilpa field station, where Rodriguez works, and they are planning to visit the southern part of the country, where Requena works, in the future, as well.
"It's like having an extended family," Requena said. "Everyone cared about what we were doing and how we were feeling. I hope to come back."
