Saving a Caribbean Polly

Jon Paul Rodríguez, a Venezuelan naturalist, was awarded the Whitley Fund for Nature’s gold award on May 1, 2019, for his three decade-long work on the Yellow Shouldered Parrot. Photo: @Informe21, Twitter

The Yellow-Shouldered Parrot is endemic to Venezuela's Caribbean coast. It is found only on the Venezuelan islands of Margarita and La Blanquilla, and the island of Bonaire in the Dutch Caribbean. Photo: Getty Images

Rodriguez, 51, and his non-profit, Provita, have worked for 30 years on the island of Margarita, where they recruited poachers to be “eco guardians” who carry out a round-the-clock watch on the parrots' nests, and establish local pride in the environment. The population on Margarita has jumped from 650 to 1,700. Photo: Getty Images

Rodriguez and his team have been able to do their work despite political upheaval in Venezuela in the last 30 years, coinciding with the regimes of the late Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro today. He was also awarded the Whitley Award in 2003 for his work. Photo: Getty Images

Venezuela, to which the Yellow-Shouldered Parrot belongs, has three distinct types of habitat namely, Orinocan, Amazonian and Andean. Forty-four per cent of all species found in South America are found in Venezuela. Photo: Getty Images