Volunteers and specialists worked hard and managed to increase the breeding of the Yellow Cardinal in Gualeguaychú, Entre Ríos.
It is a species of globally threatened bird, which finds its last strongholds in the city and its surroundings. Meanwhile, conservationists, NGOs, and government agencies are moving forward towards a joint effort through a Working Group.
What’s happening with the Yellow Cardinal
The Yellow Cardinal (xanthopsar flavus) is an endemic species of the grasslands in southern South America.
While last century they had a population distributed between the south of Misiones and Buenos Aires, in recent decades, various factors led to an 80% decrease.
This is the Yellow Cardinal.
Today it is only concentrated in two isolated sites: the southern tip of Entre Ríos – in areas near Gualeguaychú – and the northeast of Corrientes.
In recent years, the alliance between conservationists, NGOs, and government agencies managed to protect hundreds of specimens and their nests. This ensured a successful breeding of the species and prevented it from disappearing from the region.
In Gualeguaychú, the organization Aves Argentinas carries out the Yellow Cardinal Project in collaboration with a network of organizations and institutions.
Guardians of colonies
“In the province of Entre Ríos, where it was common to find colonies of Yellow Cardinals, today few nests are recorded on road edges or in fields with agricultural or livestock activities,” stated Rocío Lapido, a species conservation technician and member of the Project in the city to El Día Online.
“That’s why every spring we gather a diverse team, made up of birdwatchers, researchers, volunteers, and local technicians, with whom we go out to the field in search of their colonies, for which we also have the essential collaboration of landowners and field workers,” she explained.
“Once we locate a nesting site, we set up a nearby camp and become ‘Colony Guardians'”, Lapido added.
“Throughout the breeding season, we monitor the nests daily and protect them from any threat that may jeopardize their reproductive success. During fieldwork, each nest is identified and each chick is accompanied in its growth until it manages to leave the nest,” she pointed out.
Threats to the Yellow Cardinal
In addition to predation by foxes, birds of prey, and snakes, among other animals, there is the threat of trampling by cattle and weed clearing.
They were also victims of hunting and habitat loss. Therefore, protecting Yellow Cardinal spaces is essential.
Yellow Cardinal.
In this regard, to redouble efforts and implement a comprehensive conservation plan for this species, the Municipality of Gualeguaychú created the Protected Natural Areas System in 2024, while also signing a cooperation agreement with Aves Argentinas and forming a Working Group.
This group brings together various government agencies, academia, NGOs, natural reserves in the area, and productive sectors.
Among its members are organizations with a track record in Yellow Cardinal conservation actions, such as Aves Gualeguaychú, Reserva El Potrero, Fundación Azara, and Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral (CECOAL).
