Open protocols
How we work: applied science for returning birds to the forest, explained for everyone.
Transparency
Trust isn't asked for — it's earned by showing how things are done.
Here we explain how we rehabilitate birds: the methods we use, the concepts behind them, the experiments and the results. Grounded in peer-reviewed scientific literature, but written so anyone can understand it. This is not marketing: it is the method, open for discussion.
The method, in brief
Four pillars that hold the whole process together
Every group we release follows a defined protocol. Before the stages come the principles: why we decide what we decide. These are the four that weigh most.
Ecological capacities are the goal
The metric that defines success is functional: foraging with autonomy, flying with stamina, reading environmental cues and escaping with speed, strength and skill when danger arises. Everything we do aims to develop those capacities.
The caretaker as a temporary guide
The human team accompanies with full presence at the start and reduces intervention in a planned way until it becomes nearly invisible at the end. This progressive dilution is deliberate: an independent bird sustains its life with its own resources.
Learning through positive reinforcement
We reinforce the key behaviors — returning to the safe site, feeding up high, staying with the flock — and let the environment, peers and instincts do the rest of the learning. Positive reinforcement is the only path.
The social group as the unit
Parrots live in flocks. We release in groups and build social cohesion from inside the aviary: site fidelity and flock belonging are the strongest predictors of survival in the wild.
Five stages of the process
From the group to the forest
Moving from one stage to the next does not happen by calendar: a bird advances when it demonstrates the competencies of the previous stage. The human reduces presence at every step.
- 01
Inside the aviary
Social-group formation and physical baseline. Neutral handling, no affection. The bird advances when: stable group, functional flight between stations, healthy plumage.
- 02
The threshold
Controlled access to the outside. The bird leaves and returns to the aviary — it learns the release site is the safe harbor. Locating the feeder and coming back are the two key behaviors.
- 03
First days outside
Begins to build a mental map of the territory. The goal: navigate without getting lost and return to the feeding and hydration station to refuel, while strengthening physical skill on every flight.
- 04
More height, more distance, more foraging
The bird seeks wild food — yellow silk-cotton, red mombin, papaya. We document on video what they choose to eat. The feeder remains available but stops being the main source.
- 05
Independence
Sporadic returns to the release site. The flock moves through the territory. Monitoring by visible band, camera traps and community reports.
The aviary trains the body; the forest teaches the rest.
Our method, complete and open
What you saw above is the cover. The full document covers the evidence base, key devices, monitoring metrics, handling ethics and bibliography. It is open to review and critique.
Articles
Environmental oversight and compliance
Fundación Loros conducts its operations under the supervision of the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Canal del Dique (CARDIQUE), the competent environmental authority for northern and central Bolívar.
Registered in the Wildlife Friends Network · Resolution No. 1972 of December 28, 2022 and its subsequent acts.
The logo identifies the environmental authority that exercises oversight; its use does not imply sponsorship or partnership.
How we rehabilitate, in practice
Meet the full rehabilitation and reintegration process for psittacines.