MARQUETTE — The topic of the Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society’s next monthly meeting will be “Scarlet Macaw Captive Breeding Program in Costa Rica,” presented by Gary Palmer, avid birder and professional migration counter.

The program will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Peter White Library, George Shiras Room located on third floor.

Palmer spent eight months volunteering (interning) for the Breeding Center and Wild Scarlet Macaw Reserve located in Punta Islita, Costa Rica. Macaw populations have declined significantly over the past decades. The main causes are illegal poaching for the pet trade and the loss of mature forest habitat, which they rely on for feeding and nesting. The purpose of this center is breeding birds for future release to help restore the wild population.

Palmer got to release a captive bred flock of 12 into the wild. It was an amazing experience that he is thrilled to share with the group.

Palmer has been a longtime member of Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society, serving on the board since 2012. He fell in love with birding over a decade ago during a spring field ornithology course at Northern Michigan University and has been utterly hooked ever since. Palmer spent several seasons as a professional migration counter at sites such as Whitefish Point and Hawk Ridge and summers censusing breeding birds in Illinois and Idaho.

The Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society, founded in 1992, represents birders from Marquette and Alger counties. LWAS engages in a variety of community involvement, including monthly programs, field trips, bird counts, and sponsoring U.P. avian research.

For information on the Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society: https://laughingwhitefishaudubon.com