Fundación ProAves is a nonprofit

Nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 environmental organization

Environmental organization

An environmental organization is an organization that seeks to protect, analyze or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation or lobby for these goals....

 in Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 established in 1998. Its primary aims are to protects bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s of conservation concern and their habitats across Colombia.

ProAves has over 60 full-time professional staff. Its 21 conservation programs have resulted in the creation of the largest private reserve system to protect endangered species in the country (17 strategic bird reserves protecting 42000 acres (170 km²) and 68% of all threatened birds in Colombia). Its achievements include significant reforestation efforts, the management of a national bird banding

Bird ringing

Bird ringing or bird banding is a technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings, so that various aspects of the bird's life can be studied by the ability to re-find the same individual later...

 and monitoring program (285,000 records, 90,000 birds banded), management of three community properties that adjoin reserves through municipality agreements, the establishment of the first Colombian conservation easement, discovery of three bird species new to science, the establishment of three national, annual environmental awareness campaigns (Palm Sunday, Migratory Bird Festival and Paujil Bird Festival), and the establishment of a network of 10 local ecological groups called “Amigos de las Aves”.

Principal areas Fundación ProAves is working to conserve include Serranía de las Yariguies

Yariguies

The Yariguí people were an indigenous Colombian tribe that gave their name to a mountainous area they once inhabited in the Andean cloud forest...

, Serranía de los Churumbelos

Serranía de los Churumbelos

Serranía de Los Churumbelos Auka-Wasi National Natural Park was declared on 30 August 2007 by the Colombian government; located in the Bota Caucana of southern Colombia. Three biological expeditions conducted rapid biodiversity surveys and conservation assessments in Serranía de los Churumbelos...

, Serranía de las Quinchas

Serranía de las Quinchas

The Serranía de las Quinchas is an 860 km2 area of tropical rainforest and cloud forest in Colombia. It lies in the mid Magdalena River Valley in the foothills of the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes. It ranges in altitude from 200 m to 1700 m asl...

, the Pacific slope of Nariño, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain range apart from the Andes chain that runs through Colombia. Reaching an altitude of 5,700 metres above sea level just 42 km from the Caribbean coast, the Sierra Nevada is the world's highest coastal range...

, and the department of Antioquia.

Bird reserves owned, managed or supported by Fundación ProAves include:

• Reinita Cerúlea
  Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve
  Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve, also known as the Reinita Cerúlea Bird Reserve, is a nature reserve near Bucaramanga in central Colombia. The reserve is set among oak forest on the eastern slopes of the Magdalena River...
  
  , 1300 ha
• El Paujil, 1200 ha
• El Dorado, 728 ha
• Colibri del Sol
  Colibri del Sol Bird Reserve
  Colibri del Sol Bird Reserve is a 2,852 ha nature reserve in Colombia. It lies at the base of the Páramo del Sol volcanic massif west of the city of Medellín in the Department of Antioquia...
  
  , 2852 ha
• El Mirador, 2230 ha
• El Pangán, 4844 ha
• Loro Orejiamarillo, 300 ha
• Mirabilis-Swarovksy, 1900 ha

External links

• Sistema Nacional de Anillamiento (SNA)
• Striking new bird discovered in South America. Daily Mail
  Daily Mail
  The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
  
  , October 8, 2006. Retrieved 2006-OCT-09.
• Groups find colorful bird in Colombia Associated Press, Lauren Dake, October 9, 2006
• ProAves bird videos on the Internet Bird Collection (IBC)