Published by Development - On 9 February 2010

Bill Gette and David Larson from the Joppa Flats Education Center are currently mid-way through their third year of teaching the Certificate Program in Bird Ecology to naturalist-guides, educators, and other interested parties in Belize. Developed in cooperation with Mass Audubon’s conservation partner, Programme for Belize, this course aims to build sustainable ecotourism capacity in Belize through instruction in bird biology and leadership skills.

The course has been taught for two years in the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area in northern Belize. This year’s course is taking place in Punta Gorda in the south in cooperation with TIDE, another one of Mass Audubon’s Belizean conservation partners. To see the training in action, watch this video of a Belizean guide (below), one of 39 who have already earned the certificate, now teaching local Belizean kids how to bird.

Mass Audubon has been active in Belize conservation since the 1980s. To learn more about this conservation work, email Karen O’Neill or take a look at this comprehensive Sanctuary magazine article. And if you’d like your own look at a White-collared Manakin, consider joining Mass Audubon’s annual trip to Belize.

This year’s tour is full – but will run again in 2011