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And today, they got to witness the fruit of their efforts as the macaws they reared - one from only two days old - flew out into the wild and wide open space of the Chiquibul. Courtney Menzies was there and has this story.

Courtney Menzies: These 9 Scarlett Macaws will soon be soaring through the Chiquibul Forest after spending 4 months here at the Las Cuevas research center. They were rescued as chicks by the team from Friends for Conservation and Development to protect them from poachers that cross into our borders. According to the executive director, if they're not vigilant, these bright red feathers could soon disappear from Belize's forests.

Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD
"Historically and in fact if you look all around the country, from Corozal way down to Toledo District, you will find, even at the local community level, you will find out there, there's a certain affinity towards the Scarlett Macaw, either with a photo, with a picture in the park, you'll see it in books, and you're right, it's a colorful species, it is the biggest one that is found in Belize. So there is an attraction to that parrot. That's why it has become the species of higher value on the black market."

"We do know if we don't put conservation activities, anti-poaching, protection of bio-monitoring, enforcement, we do know that these parrots can disappear from Belize."

As it is, there are only about 350 individual parrots in the wild. But today, that number increased just a little.

The soft release begins with placing fruits and nuts on the feeding platform, only this time, it's on the outside of the cage, and the doors are opened. Now, one would expect the parrots to rush out. But they took their time, eating and observing the new environment.

It took about 30 minutes for the first parrot to finally fly out and into a nearby tree - and then about 5 seconds for another to follow behind. And while they perched on branches and nibbled on leaves, the other seven - wet from the rain - decided to hang back for the time being.

It's the most macaws that the FCD have released and the Chief Research Field Coordinator explained how they found them.

Eric Max, Chief Research Field Coordinator, FCD
"In the field it's very difficult at times, but it's a passion for our work that we do that really makes us go the extra mile so what happened was that these macaws they had a really great fall from a structure failure so these falls are always vulnerable when there's different aspects in nature. And the macaws were actually on the ground and they would have been predated eventually but however we managed to find them luckily and then extract then out from the wild and brought them here to the lab where they were hand reared and are actually big enough today and hopefully they will integrate back into the wild."

"The other five were in prone areas known to poaching, really remote areas, and the others well of course that were closer to us and that's why we were able to find them because it was easier to mobilize with the transportation that we have."

And the rangers at FCD spend about 6 or 7 months monitoring the macaws - and the trails used by Guatemalan poachers. Once they deem that an area has been traversed a lot, they do what they need to in order to keep the parrots safe. Extraction is usually the last resort, and only if surveillance is not a viable option. But the BRIM technician explained that they ensure the macaws can survive in the wild.

Wilmer Guerra, BRIM Technician, FCD
"The care for the macaws is basically, we try to mimic a lot of the wild activities out there in terms of feeding, so the feeding time, the feeding amount we would give them, basically we're trying to mimic what- and that's basically what institute signifies, we try to mimic a lot of what is out there in the wild so whenever we soft release them it's an easy process for them to basically adapt out in the wild."

"We do not interact with them, we do not regard them as pets. They are basically wild macaws that we are feeding and the less we interact with them, the better for us."

And these soft releases occur annually to increase the population and ward off poachers. According to Manzanero, they've had to study the movements of the poachers the way they study the parrots.

Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD
"I would see in the last recent years, we have come about poachers, we do know that poachers from Guatemala know exactly the time, they know the dates, when the parrots are basically on the nests. So they're like biologists, they actually have studied also the life history of these parrots so they know when to come in. So what we tend to do is we put that program in place the same time, the anti-poaching program."

"Over the last decade the population has been slightly increasing. You will realize that if you go to the Stann Creek District today, if you go to Red Bank, there are observations of macaws expanding into those areas. Which in a way is a good story because it means parrots are filling new cavities. And so it is then our interest to try and safeguard as best as possible and increase the population, the numbers. so that's pretty much the mission."

And while these macaws were a little shy, today's mission can still be considered a success, and for the next month, they'll be able to come by for a quick snack.

The team has also had successes with other methods of protecting the macaws - such as fostering and swapping the chicks.