www.tufted-jay-preserve.org

The 1st Mazatlan Bird Festival will highlight the spectacular and highly endemic Tufted Jay and the needs as well as efforts toward its conservation.

The Tufted Jay Preserve is a result of the negotiation, creation and management of a conservation easement on the collective lands of the Ejido El Palmito, in the Sierra Madre mountains of Sinaloa, Mexico. It is located along the Mazatlan - Durango Highway birding corridor and is considered one of the most important in the world. The purpose of this effort is the protection of the pine-oak forest habitat for several flocks of the highly endemic Tufted Jay and the development of economic alternatives for the logging community of El Palmito.

“My colleagues and I can vouch for the gold that makes it worth traveling to those ridge tops in the Sierra Madre Occidental. First at great distance down a spectacular ravine, then finally in the pines right over our heads, we marveled in awe at the splendid bird we had come so far to see. The Tufted Jay will survive, not in exclusive preserves removed from the local economy, but in expansive forests that provide that economy. If you can possibly go see for yourself, I promise that you’ll never forget it.”

- John W. Fitzpatrick, Louis Agassiz Fuertes Director. Cornell Lab of Ornithology

To see the complete article, please visit:

www.cornell.edu

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The Tufted Jay is a bird from the Corvidae family, endemic to the Sierra of Sinaloa and Durango. Logging in the El Palmito Ejido, located in the north of Sinaloa, a widespread activity in the entire geographic distribution range of the Tufted Jay, has dramatically reduced the availability of a habitat suitable for the reproduction of this bird.

To conserve the population viability of this species, Pronatura Noroeste A.C. and the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) signed a conservation easement contract with ejido landowners in El Palmito Forests to suspend logging practices in 400 hectares of prime Tufted Jay habitat for a period of 30 years. Sendero Mexico was instrumental in facilitating the contact with the the ejido and assisting in the start up of the Tufted Jay ecotourism project.

Through economic incentives for the development of low impact tourism activities (such as the observation of this rare species and the construction of environmentally friendly cabins), the conservation of the habitat of the Tufted Jay strengthens rural and economic development for the ejidatarios in El Palmito.

Serious and novice birders have come to this area for decades in organized birding excursions or on their own for a chance to see the Tufted Jay. Peter Alden, Keynote Speaker at the 2009 Mazatlan Bird Festival, explored the area extensively 40 years ago while carrying out the field work for his book, "Finding the Birds in Western Mexico".

Day Tours and Multi Day Tours will be offered to the Tufted Jay Preserve during the Mazatlan Bird Festival. Sendero Mexico leads birding tours from Mazatlan to the Preserve throughout the year and provides the reservations service for this important ecotourism, sustainable development community project.