The pupils at Kaw school find out about Agami Herons

In French Guiana, several aspects of the Life+ Cap DOM programme are underway on the National Nature Reserve of the Kaw-Roura marshes. One of them is the study of the Agami Heron, which has a nesting colony in the middle of the marshes.

The pupils of Kaw school were able to find out more about this species on 4th June 2013, thanks to Mathilde Segers, a guard/technician at the reserve, and also had a chance of naming some of the birds in the same way has been done by the pupils at the éco-école at Roura.

Activities at the Maison de la Réserve

© RNN Kaw-Roura 2013

"One female was given a solar-powered transmitter, and after lots of ideas and many votes we came up with the following name: AGAMINA, a feminine name completely in harmony with the name of the species."
Mathilde Segers

Voting for the choice of names

© RNN Kaw-Roura 2013

"For the male there were far fewer suggestions, but they were much more carefully chosen. We were all quite quickly agreed on the name: MARKAW. Phonetically this sounded like MARCO, but also referred to the name of a pool situated on the plain of Kaw."
Mathilde Segers

And as it turns out, Markaw is the only heron to have stayed in the marshes ever since the satellite studies were started, and up to the present moment he seems to be living up to his new name!

Anna Stier
Project Leader, LIFE+ Cap DOM