Lilacine Amazon in Balsas

The forest of Las Balsas is an incredible place located in the province of Santa Elena. Michael Moens and Eliana Montenegro registered more than 500 Lilacine Amazons that arrive at an Acacias site near the community. This is probably the largest population of Lilacine Amazons in the world and needs protection. The people of the community look for and burn the Acacias to obtain coal.

Michael Moens received a grant from the Auckland Zoo to study this population and find breeding sites within the forest. The Jocotoco Foundation is working with Diego Cisneros and Daniel Velarde of the University of San Francisco de Quito and Ivette Solís of Cerro Blanco and the Chester Zoo to monitor the species, every month. "American Bird Conservacy" has a great interest in working with this threatened species and its site in the future.