One of the more enjoyable projects that we have been involved with over the past year and a half is the local bird guide training course that was sponsored by the Sonoran Joint Venture and Pro Natura. The idea was to offer the opportunity for local people in three different locations in northern Mexico to go through an intensive course to become birding and natural history guides in their community. Some of the impetus for this project came from the notion that often times tour companies (not just bird tour companies) do a lot to bring people to areas and often times don’t leave a whole lot of cash in the communities they visit. The thought is that having well trained local guides might entice tour operators to utilize some of these guides as co-leader for some tours. No one ever thought that this new skill would replace some ones day job, but it could certainly be something that could provide extra income and do a lot to promote the ideas of conservation in the community.
One important element of the training was to teach much more than just bird identification. All areas of natural history and ecology were touched upon and the students were encouraged to learn about cultural history and issues important to their communities. In Alamos, we worked on learning the colonial history, a huge and very interesting attraction to the area. The reality is that there are only so many birding business opportunities in a town this size, so being diversified and interested in various things will allow one the opportunity to be hired by all sorts of different types of tour companies with various emphasizes that come to town.
Indeed the idea worked, at least here in Alamos. Solipaso for one is a consistent employer of these new guides. We hire them not only to be bird guides on trips, but Armando Mejia and Mario Ibarra practically operate our Rio Mayo float trip business on their own.
But the part of the project we are most proud of is the Alas de Alamos bird club. This rather loosely organized group is made up of student from the bird guide training and a few others interested in birds. We pushed the new club members to start the Saturday morning bird walks as a practical way to learn to be good guides. The weekly outings have taught them all a lot about managing a group, working with foreigners and being better interpreters. It has been a lot of fun watching these students get better and with the minimal fee that we charge for participation to the public we have money to fund trips to other areas with the club members. Eventually we want to get a bit more official and have a board of directors and offer memberships to others, but for now it is a great way to get out and see birds with some great people!