Project: Agami Heron Watch
Time of Year: January to July with annual variation, closely tied to flood conditions
Mission: track breeding population of Agami Herons by counting nests and measuring the area occupied

Background:
For about 6 months each year, the flooded forest tucked at the end of our largest lagoon transforms into a noisy breeding ground for hordes of water birds, including the Agami Heron (Agamia agami), Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius cochlearius), Cocoi Heron (Andrea cocoi), Neotropical Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus), Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga), Hoatzin (Ophisthocomus hoazin), Great Egret (Andrea alba), Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) and Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana). Nearby in other parts of the lagoon are also the Striated Heron (Butorides striata) and the Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta).

The Tapiche Reserve is home to several natural predators of the water birds, their chicks and their eggs, including three species of caiman (Melanosuchus niger, caiman crocodilus, Paleosuchus palpebrosus), several species of majestic raptors (Morphnus guianensis, Spizaetus ornatus, Harpia harpyja), the infamous anaconda snake (Eunectes murinus) and several species of monkey (Lagothrix poeppigii, Cacajao calvus, Cebus albifrons, Cebus apella, Callicebus cupreus). The most ruthless predators by far, however, were the local humans who collected the eggs to eat or sell, often stripping the entire area of eggs and harvesting adult birds as well. After the reserve was established in 2010, it took three years of protecting the area before the birds began to build up their numbers. We're now proud to welcome their annual return, and the size of the rookery expands each year.

The Agami are the first water birds to inhabit the breeding zone, usually in late January, so they court in relative privacy before other species arrive. The Boat-billed Herons join in March and appear to make use of existing Agami nests to begin their breeding cycle. Since the Agami are so many in number and seem to breed at staggered times, they are forced to share close quarters with the Boat-billed Herons, and sometimes territorial disputes ensue, as you can see in the video.

We had the good fortune in 2015 to witness the courtship phase of the Agami Heron, a fleeting event that has rarely been observed. The header photograph on this page depicting an adult Agami with striking red lore was taken at this time. Unfortunately in 2016 our region suffered a drastic drought for the entire month of January, a sad indicator of the changing global climate during a season when rain should have fallen every single day. The Agami arrived late to the breeding ground, and because of the low water level and thick overgrowth of vegetation, we were not able to monitor the colony that year. In 2017 we were able to track the growing colony and submitted observations to the Agami Heron Working Group (AHWG). The area occupied by the Agami within the breeding zone measured approximately 300m long by 50-80m wide according to our gps waypoints. We observed a woolly monkey (Lagothrix poeppigii) steal an Agami egg from the nest and devour it after escaping to a nearby tree. We also noticed a large family of red uakari monkeys (Cacajao calvus) descend from their preferred canopy travel route to the lower trees and bushes at the edge of the lagoon, presumably also for the bird eggs, as they would have no other reason to detour to this area and are not seen to do so outside of the the heron nesting season. Another drought wreaked havoc in 2018, rendering the nesting area completely dry when it should have been flooded, and the Agami did not nest. In 2019, we did not have enough personnel or resources to monitor the population, though the flood was plentiful and the Agami did come back in seemingly greater numbers to nest. We were reduced to bare survival operations during the pandemic in 2020 and were not able to make any progress in our Agami Watch, but we are hoping to accomplish more in 2021 with the help of donations from our wonderful Tapiche friends and family.

The Tapiche Reserve is a member of the Agami Heron Working Group, a subgroup of the official IUCN-SCC Heron Specialist Group, a network of biologists, conservationists, and others dedicated to the research and conservation of herons.

For more Agami photos, take a look at our Gallery page.

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Agami heron watch