22 Jan How Our Ambassador Birds Helped Build Avian Behavior Conservancy’s Research Impact
When most people meet one of our conservation ambassador birds, they see an unforgettable educational experience. What many don’t realize is that those same birds have helped build the research foundation of Avian Behavior Conservancy over the last decade.
Your support of our education programs has done far more than inspire audiences. It has helped generate funding for global conservation, launched international collaborations, and shaped real-world avian research and recovery efforts.
This is the story of how education became research — and how donors and our professional community made it possible.
Turning Education Into Global Conservation Support
Through public programs, special events, and partnerships, our ambassador birds have helped raise thousands of dollars for conservation organizations working directly in the field.
These efforts have supported:
- Vulture conservation through International Vulture Awareness Day, with funds sent to The Peregrine Fund and VulPro
- Toucan conservation in Costa Rica through the Toucan Rescue Ranch
- Additional raptor and scavenger species projects that depend on public engagement and donor-driven support
Every dollar raised represented more than fundraising — it represented people who now understood why these species matter and chose to help protect them.
Your donations made those connections possible.
When Education Opened the Door to Field Research
In 2023, Avian Behavior Conservancy hosted its first virtual conference, AvOCET (Avian Online Conservation, Education, and Training Conference). The event brought together professionals working in avian behavior, training, and conservation from around the world.
One of those connections changed the course of our research work.
Lucy Kemp, Project Manager of the Mabula Ground Hornbill Project in South Africa, recognized that our long-term behavioral expertise with Southern Ground Hornbills in professional care offered something rare: practical insight into development, social learning, and welfare that could strengthen rearing and reintroduction success.
She invited our team to South Africa to consult directly in the field.
For several weeks, we:
- Tracked reintroduced Southern Ground Hornbill family groups across protected reserves
- Evaluated behavior, group stability, and territory use
- Assessed environmental and human-related risk factors
- Delivered applied recommendations for rearing, release preparation, and post-release monitoring
Every recommendation we provided was rooted in the behavioral knowledge we developed through our ambassador bird work. Not only that, but in order to get to South Africa in the time frame that she asked, we needed crowd-funded support to do so. And our community came through!
In other words:
Your support of education directly strengthened conservation research.
Why Ambassador Birds Matter to Conservation Science
Ambassador birds are not just messengers. They are teachers — for the public and for professionals.
They allow us to:
- Study long-term behavior and learning
- Refine welfare and care practices
- Train future conservation professionals
- Translate behavioral science into field solutions
Those lessons do not stay within education programs. They move into recovery projects, reintroduction efforts, and international partnerships.
This is how a bird meeting a child in San Diego helped inform conservation decisions in South Africa.
Conservation Begins With Connection
At Avian Behavior Conservancy, we believe conservation does not begin with equipment or data.
It begins with connection.
When people care about birds, they protect ecosystems.
When professionals understand behavior, they improve survival.
When donors invest in education, they invest in research — even if they never see that connection directly.
For over a decade, our ambassador birds have helped us:
- Raise funds for global conservation partners
- Build international research collaborations
- Train professionals and future conservationists
- Expand Avian Behavior Conservancy’s role in applied avian research
And none of it happens without donor support.
Your Role in What Comes Next
As we continue to expand our research pillar — from telemetry projects to nest box monitoring, scavenger conservation, and international partnerships — our ambassador birds remain at the heart of everything we do.
They are where curiosity begins.
They are where trust is built.
They are where conservation starts.
And because of you, their impact now reaches far beyond any single program.
Thank you for helping us turn education into research, and research into conservation action.