“Birds and Forests - Biodiversity of the Americas,” the new exhibition launched at AgroArt, IICA's Virtual Art Museum

San Jose, 23 March 2022 (IICA). AgroArt , the Virtual Art Museum of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), has launched the photographic exhibition “Birds and Forests - Biodiversity of the Americas,” comprised of 30 photographs of species of birds found in Costa Rica.
 
The exhibition was launched as part of the commemoration of the International Day of Forests, on March 21. The photos were taken by Marvin Blanco, a Costa Rican specialist in Sustainable Agribusiness at IICA.
 
The exhibition highlights stunning, colorful species of birds such as the green hermit and rufous-tailed hummingbirds, tanagers of various types (summer, silver-throated, blue-gray), the yellow-throated toucan, the peregrine falcon, Hoffmann's woodpecker and the lineated woodpecker, among others.
 
“Some of the birds, such as the clay-colored thrush, the rufous collared sparrow, toucans, parakeets, woodpeckers and kingfishers, are permanent residents in Costa Rica, while others, including the summer, yellow-winged and blue-gray tanagers and the birds of prey, are migratory,” explained Blanco.
 
“The sample shows how the geography of Costa Rica, with its high mountains and low plains, favors the existence of a great variety of resident species, while the country also lies along the route followed by a large number of migratory birds that travel from Alaska to the Southern Cone to escape from the cold,” he added.

The exhibition “Birds and Forests - Biodiversity of the Americas” forms part of IICA’s efforts aimed at restoring and preserving forests in the region.
 
At its headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, this international organization is implementing the Forest of the Americas initiative, in collaboration with the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE).
 
The Forest of the Americas aims to contribute information about the natural riches of the Americas, and to recognize the multiple services that tree species provide to our societies, which account for their great importance in the history, economy, environment, and traditions of numerous peoples in this part of the world.
 
Dozens of mahogany, ceiba, araguaney, guayacan, jacaranda and oak trees have already been planted in this forest. Other efforts include boosting the incredible biodiversity found in Latin America and the Caribbean by means of sustainable management.
 
For example, birds play an important role as pollinators, planting trees as they travel over the Americas and contributing to megadiverse spaces, as explained in the introduction to the exhibition available at https://agroart.iica.int/aves-y-bosques-biodiversidad-de-las-americas/
 
The photographs on display in the “Birds and Forests - Biodiversity of the Americas” exhibition were taken between 2020 and 2022 in a wide variety of places in Costa Rica, such as San Pedro de Montes de Oca, San Isidro de Coronado, Copey de Dota, Ochomogo, El Guarco, Puerto Viejo de Limón, Guatuso and Bajos del Toro de Alajuela and El Rodeo de Ciudad Colón.
 
AgroArt is a space for the dissemination and integration of artistic expressions in the Americas that draw on the rich culture, biodiversity, and natural resources of the hemisphere’s rural areas.

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int