Amazon Bird Monitoring Volunteer

Save to Favorites

Are you a bird enthusiast who wants to do more than just list?

With 660 species of bird recorded at the station, Manu Biolodge is a birder’s paradise, and the bird volunteer program has been designed to provide a range of unique experiential learning opportunities for participants.

This is an incredible opportunity for anyone with a love of birds and a passion for protecting them, and no prior skills are required to participate!

The bird volunteer program at Manu Biolodge is centred around four key focus areas:

• Building a bird haven
• Bioacoustics
• Surveying

Manu Biolodge is home to two dedicated bird gardens - a hummingbird garden and a generalist garden - as well as a number of other curated birdwatching locations. You’ll be involved in maintaining these areas and turning them into the ideal habitats for the many spectacular bird species . Activities may include:

• Cleaning and refilling hummingbird feeders
• Placement of fruit and seeds in various locations
• Building, painting and installing nest boxes
• Composting waste to produce worms and larvae for tinamous and antpittas
• General garden maintenance

This aspect of the program is designed to ensure that Manu Biolodge is a paradise for birds and birdwatchers alike.

Much of the cutting-edge research being undertaken in avian conservation today is dependent upon bioacoustic monitoring - the recording and analysis of wildlife sounds in order to assess the overall health of ecosystems. Using state-of-the-art acoustic recorders, you’ll be involved in the development of a 'heat map’ that monitors the distribution and abundance of the 600+ bird species here at Manu Biolodge. Activities in the Bioacoustics program will include:

• Deployment and collection of acoustic recorders
• Training in basic knowledge of bird vocalisations
• Identification of bird species using Raven Pro/BirdNet software
• Analysis and incorporation of data into the bird-monitoring project

During your stay, you’ll be involved in daily birdwatching activities throughout our network of trails. Using a variety of citizen science apps, you’ll help document, record and monitor the station’s incredible biodiversity. Potential activities will include:

• Morning and afternoon bird surveys
• Monitoring of nest box occupants
• Observations from the tinamou blind
• UV light surveying for nocturnal, insectivorous birds
• Uploading of observations to eBird, iNaturalist, Macaulay, Xeno Canto and more

This work will help us to better understand the dynamics of bird populations at the station.

Whilst volunteering at Manu, we don’t just want you to enjoy our incredible birdlife, we want you to share your passion with the world. Using a suite of media technology, you’ll work with our resident photographer to create high quality educational videos about the many captivating bird species found here at Manu Biolodge. The Science Communication program will involve:

• Use of high-tech equipment, including our mirrorless camera, drone and camera traps
• Training in science communication for various audiences from our resident photographer
• Creation of informative, bird-related videos
• Distribution of content throughout our networks