Birds of Our Neighborhood of Yapura, Piamonte
19 – 22 May 2023
Piamonte, Cauca, Colombia
Along the Caquetá River and far from any big cities, the Yapura territory of the Yapura village is an isolated, majorly indigenous community in Piamonte, Cauca, Colombia. For much time, the naturalists of the Association of the Rural Workers of Piamonte Cauca (ASIMTRACAMPIC) has co-created events to advance the connection between birds and the Yapura community as part of their mission to reconnect their communities to traditional ways of living. In May 2023, the local Yapura community and ASIMPTRACAMPIC organizers put on the program “Aves de Mi Territorio, Piamonte – Cauca / Celebra las Aves Urbanas.” The program consisted of events about birds attributed to advancing the knowledge of birds, participatory science, wellbeing, and art in various formats as described below.
At the beginning of the program, the residents of the Yapura territory realized two workshops for the re-recognition of the birds, their biology, and conservation. For the majority of participants, the shared knowledge was new, relevant, and very valuable. After the activities learning the basics of our winged neighbors, they immediately applied the information to local bird walk tours. The participants also became participatory scientists, uploading identification data to the eBird app.
On the second day, members of the community strengthened their comprehension and appreciation for the birds through artistic activities like the creation of bird masks, cards to color and draw on, and a new birding plan which was designed by the children during the birdwatching tour. Bird-themed games and crafts were also created.
Additionally, the third day, the kids participated in whimsical activities while adults were able to escape for field trips to relax and explore their curiosity about birds without their children.
Finally, the residents of the Yapura territory created an artistic mural of recognizable species of birds of the region, thus representing the culture of the rural and indigenous communities through art. Called “The Birds of My Territory”, the mural was captured in the epicenter of the community, the boarding dock of the Yapura district, where children and adults participated together with a local artist to make it.
Undoubtedly the most amazing aspect of this program is that participants and administrators have held these empowered and inspired events in an area controlled by a guerrilla. They were outside learning about birds and creating spaces inviting our winged neighbors even though the area is precarious for humans. For the next event, the ASIMTRACAMPIC team, in collaboration with Celebrate Urban Birds, will continue their work expanding bird recognition and conservation to many more communities in isolated areas like this. They also wanted to involve citizen science in the process, maximize training days and field activities strategically.
Follow the activities that were carried out by this program with the materials below (+ learn something about native birds too!):