Spix's macaws being set free!

[Rozalka]

I stopped updating but in short: babies from the second clutch survived but one of them had to stay as captive because of its behavior (it kept moving away from the rest of flock - it means, more vulnerable to become a prey)
Here's the latest update (sorry, idk how to link again):

 

[Rozalka]

Sad news: Probably all wild Spix's macaws will be captured back to captivity due to PBFD

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Why? Are they concerned about transmission to other birds in the wild? How many do they need to capture?
It sounds like it's going to be impossible to successfully reintroduce these parrots to the wild.

 

[Rozalka]

Why? Are they concerned about transmission to other birds in the wild? How many do they need to capture?
It sounds like it's going to be impossible to successfully reintroduce these parrots to the wild.

Because it's extremely contiguous - it's pretty dangerous that it would be transmitted to other parrots (not only other Spix's macaws but also other local species). I don't remember how many there are in the wild right now... 13? 17? Anyway all of them need to be captured (for now they're still awaiting for a permission I think)

 

[kme3388]

I’ve always wondered how we breed parrots like the spix in captivity, and then release them back into the wild. My macaw is the ultimate stage 5 clinger. He knows when I get home, and he’s learned my routine. He mocks many things I do. At night when he’s tired he will put himself back in his cage. His cage is his safe place. He feeds my dogs. Because my dog never posed a threat to my macaw he thinks it’s a “friend”, and “safe”. In the wild my dog would eat my macaw. I feel like anytime we cage a bird regardless of how or to what extent that it poses risks when being reintroduced into the wild. I hope it is successful. I just have concerns because of my experience with living, and interacting with a macaw daily.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Species like Spix macaws that occupy such a small niche habitat have such trouble adapting to changes.
In the US there used to be the Ivory Billed Woodpecker native to the woods of the deep south. It was a huge stunning woodpecker 20 inches (50 cm) long that went extinct in the early-mid 1900s (no one knows for sure when). It couldn't adapt to habitat changes when man came into the picture even though there's still a lot of forested land there. Hunting also affected the population though I can't imagine why anyone would hunt woodpeckers. The other great woodpecker of North America the Pileated, is similar, just a few inches smaller and lives in wooded areas but it is not endangered at all. They adapted well to the presence of man and habitat changes. I have them visiting my suet feeders only 15 feet from my house and breeding in the surrounding woods.

Saddest is the loss of our only parrots native to the eastern US- the Carolina Parakeet. Huge flocks were common in the 1700s until white man came and hunted them to extinction by the early 1900s They were actually a conure (Conuropisis carolinensis) that looked sort of like a Jenday.