world parrot trust in action vol. 11 no.4 november 1999

PROMOTING EXCELLENCEIN PARROT CONSERVATIONAVICULTURE AND WELFARE

World Parrot Trustin action

psittacine (sit’ a sîn) belonging or allied to the parrots; parrot-like

The Golden Conure

Pesquet’s Parrot

Cape York Palm Cockatoo Study

An Island Diary – Kaka

Vol. 11 No.4 November 1999

EditorRosemary Low,P.O. Box 100,Mansfield, Notts.,United KingdomNG20 9NZ

CONTENTSPesquet’s or VulturineParrot – A species in needof study ..........................2-3

The Golden Conure SurvivalFund..................................4-6

Kaka – ‘Island Diary’ ..........7

Illegal Traffic in Brazil’sWildlife ............................8-9

Bolivia, Blue-throatedMacaws and Macaw Wingsfor Sale ........................10-11

Cape York Palm CockatooStudy ..........................12-13

Index & Paradise ParkNewsletter ........................14

If Parrots could really speak,what would they tell us? ..15

Psitta News..................16-18

WPT Info Page ..................19

Parrots in the Wild ..........20

The World Parrot Trust does notnecessarily endorse any views orstatements made by contributorsto PsittaScene.It will of course consider articlesor letters from any contributors ontheir merits.All contents © World Parrot Trust

Cover PicturePesquet’s Parrot has thedubious distinction of beinghunted in Papua New Guineafor its feathers, considered tobe more valuable for tradingand ‘bride price’ than thoseof birds-of-paradise.

2 ■ PsittaScene Volume 11, No 4, November 1999

The Pesquet’s orVulturine Parrot– a species in need of studyby ANDREW L. MACK, Wildlife Conservation Society.

New Guinea and its offshore islands are home to about 56 species ofparrots, of which two are considered “vulnerable” and seven “nearthreatened.” None are considered “critical” or “endangered” byBirdLife International. The solid status of many New Guinea parrotsstems from the relatively low human population of the area andextensive intact forests and wilderness areas on the island. One ofthe species considered vulnerable is the Vulturine Parrot (Psittrichasfulgidus), also known as Pesquet’s Parrot to avoid confusion with theunrelated Gypopsitta vulturina of Brazil.

Psittrichas is a monotypic genus,highlighting how these birdsdiffer from all other parrots.The genus is sometimesconsidered a lineage thatdiverged from other parrotsearly in the evolution of thefamily. Psittrichas have sparse,short bristle-like feathers on thehead, giving them a naked-headed look like vultures. Theskin at the base of the mouthextends onto the bill, givingthem a tube-like gape. Relativelyfew birds are kept in captivityand captive breeding has beenparticularly difficult, due todifficulty of finding a properdiet for chicks. Breedersgenerally find that chicksrequire a diet substantiallylower in protein than typicalparrots, an observation that fitswith what little we know aboutthe diets of wild birds (seebelow). Other than basicmorphological information andsome observations of captivebirds, little is known of thesebirds in the wild. In the courseof various field studies in NewGuinea beginning in 1987 DebraWright and I have been fortunateto make a number of fieldobservations of wild birds andreared three captive chicks andreleased them. Based on theseexperiences we have published acouple of technical papers (Mack1994, Mack & Wright 1998) and

summarize what we havelearned here. Our hope is tostimulate research andconservation efforts. The key tosuccessful conservation is toidentify threats before they areirreversible and developinitiatives that will avert acritical situation.

SpecialisedFrugivoresThe data we have been able togather, and the observations wehave made suggest that thesebirds are extremely specialisedfrugivores. We suggest they feedalmost exclusively on a fewspecies of fig. At one site during

a four year residence, weobserved dozens of feedingepisodes and all were at twovarieties of a single fig species.At another site in three monthswe observed Vulturines at twoother species of fig. Localhunters who know these birdswell, tell us that they eat only afew species of figs and all thedata from museum collectionsindicate figs. Among publishedrecords, most are of figs, butsome ornithologists haveobserved that the birds alsooccasionally eat flowers of acouple of species found in therainforest canopy as well.Whether these birds are indeedthis specialised will needcorroboration from moredetailed field study. Extremedietary specialisation amongfrugivores is uncommonbecause most fruiting plantsbear edible fruits only duringcertain seasons. Birds need toswitch among species asdifferent plant species comeinto season. However, figs are

At an event like the Goroka Show, a careful observer can find the red and blackfeathers from Vulturine Parrots and dozens of other species.

unusual in this regard. Differentindividuals within a populationbear fruits asynchronously; inthe home range of a VulturineParrot there could easily be atleast one or two trees in fruit atany one time. Thus, if afrugivore were to specialise onjust a few food plants, figswould be the best group tospecialise upon.

If these parrots are indeed asspecialised on figs as wesuspect, it would be wise toassess the effect of logging andother increasing land uses onthe figs in question. Birds withnarrowly specialised diets arevulnerable to forestperturbations. If the few speciesof fig disappear with logging,specialist Vulturines might beunable to switch to alternativefoods. Dietary generalists areoften more flexible in the face ofhabitat modification becausethey can switch to other,possibly less-preferred,resources that survive orestablish after logging.

Parrots need figsand figs needparrotsThe figs Vulturines eat arehemiepiphytes, or stranglers.Hemiepiphytes have evolved aneffective strategy to win thecompetition for light in therainforest canopy. The seeds ofhemiepiphytes must bedispersed by birds (or otherarboreal / volant animals), tothe limbs of other (host) trees.There they germinate and sendroots down along the host tree’strunk. So instead of starting outas a seedling in the deep shadeof the forest floor,hemiepiphytes begin asseedlings high in the well-litcanopy. Eventually the growingfig encloses and “strangles” thehost tree, whereupon it becomesa free-standing tree. Stranglerfigs are one of the hallmarkimages of tropical rainforests.Fig seeds that fall to the groundcannot germinate and growupward. In fact, experts in figevolution hypothesise that thesub-group of figs the Vulturineseat actually are evolutionarilyspecialised on parrot-mediateddispersal because the figs have ahard receptacle wall that parrotscan open. Most figs are soft-

neighbours who do use thefeathers. Thus, as humanpopulation grows and asVulturines are hunted out ofareas, the demand is transferredto those areas where Vulturinepopulations are still intact.Indeed, with hundreds of smalllanding strips across the island,the demand for feathers canreach even the remotest part ofthe island. In many remote areasone of the most profitableendeavours can be the sale oflive wild game and feathersbecause these can be flownmore economically than coffeeor other produce. Adult birdsare either hunted directly ormore commonly nest trees arecut down to capture the chicks.These chicks are then raiseduntil their red feathers appearand then sold for a hefty price.This practice undoubtedly slowsreproductive success as the nesttree is usually completely cutdown or the nest chamberhacked open. If the nesting pairsurvives, they must find anothersuitable tree and excavate achamber. Establishing a newnest would probably delaynesting for a full year becausesuitable trees are hard to find.The rainforests of New Guineamight be short on nest sitesrelative to other tropical forestsbecause there are nowoodpeckers on the island.Hunters that cut down hollowtrees in order to extract cavity-dwelling game exacerbate thisshortage.

We desperately need data onhow many birds are beingtraded, how they are hunted andwhere trade skins are comingfrom. There is someinternational trade in VulturineParrots, mostly out of theIndonesian side of New Guinea,

walled and weaker-billed birdscan open them. Thus, quitepossibly the figs and parrots arein a fairly tight mutualism;anything that impacts one willultimately affect the other. Theparrots need the figs for foodand the figs need the parrots toput their seeds on host treelimbs. It is an example of theincredible complexity of therainforest that highlights theneed for good field researchbefore we can fully understandhow to conserve any particularspecies like the Vulturine Parrot.

Hunted for theirfeathersHabitat modification and theVulturine’s narrow diet are,however, not the only threat tothe species. The bird is largelyblack, but the belly and wingshave feathers that are brightred. These few red featherscould prove the Vulturine’sdownfall because they are highlyprized as trade items and forornamentation among the manyethnic groups of New Guinea. Insome areas Vulturine Parrotfeathers are the third mostcommon trade item (after pigsand money). Many groups usethe wing feathers, particularlythe half red-half blacksecondaries, in their traditionalheaddresses. Althoughwesternisation has diminishedmany customs, the people ofNew Guinea still maintain manyof their traditions and dances,breaking out the special attirefor parties (singsings), weddingsand other big events.

Even where Vulturine Parrotfeathers are not traditionallyused, people still trade them,for considerable sums, to

but the real impact is domesticuse by traditional hunters andtraders. Thus the fine efforts byconservationists monitoring theinternational parrot trade willnot unveil the extent ofVulturine exploitation and weare reduced to guessing itsimpact. Furthermore, withoutbasic natural historyinformation on diet, populationdensities and reproduction wewill be unable to determine howvulnerable the species is even ifwe do obtain data on domestictrade. At the moment we cannotcategorically say the species isin serious danger, nor can we becomplacent that it is secure.Certainly populations have beenextirpated from large areas inrecent times.

ManagementoptionsIf proper study indicatespopulations are indeedthreatened by hunting, thenthere might be options formanagement that could bothmaintain populations and allowthe people of New Guinea tocarry on their rich culturalheritage. Possibly lessdestructive methods of huntingcould be encouraged oralternatives to Vulturinefeathers introduced to the trade.Ideally, we have the opportunityto preserve the traditional useof a wild parrot species andpopulations of that parrot.These two objectives are oftenin conflict where humanpopulations are increasing andforest cover decreasing. Solidfield research will enable us todetermine how to conserve thisbizarre parrot withoutjeopardising the diverse culturaltraditions of New Guinea.

Young Vulturine Parrots about 1 year old. These birds were acquired from local hunters who were taking them to the city tosell. They were hand-reared and released back to the wild. We kept a perch with food on the veranda of the house to whichthey would come for food less and less frequently. After several months they rarely came back to feed, though they wouldperch nearby.

PsittaScene Volume 11, No 4, November 1999 ■ 3

The Golden ConureSurvival Fundby GLENN REYNOLDS

What is aviculture? The Webster’s Dictionary states that aviculture is, “The rearing orkeeping of birds”. I have spent the last 22 years of my life chasing the meaning of thisword. I, as most of us, started out with only a few small birds. Observing the beauty, thehabits, and the intelligence of these creatures mesmerised me and the addiction grew. Ihave learned through the decades, the more appropriate defining factors separating abird owner from an aviculturist, are in the knowledge obtained through years ofexperience managing and raising parrots. More appropriately, aviculture is acollaborative effort of individuals, groups and organisations to compile and disseminateinformation that will enhance and extend the lives of captive birds and preserve wildpopulations and the ecosystems that they reside in. The techniques that we havecumulatively learned through captive breeding programmes are now helping to save therarest species of parrots in the wild. I have found the true meaning of the wordaviculture in my association with the World Parrot Trust.

How It BeganIn the month of September1998, I met Mike Reynolds,founder of the World ParrotTrust, for the first time at the IVInternational Parrot Conventionin Tenerife, Spain. My namebeing Glenn Michael Reynoldsand his being Michael Reynoldshad inadvertently brought ustogether: One evening I enteredmy hotel room and found apackage for Michael Reynolds. Iwondered; was this a mistake,did someone forget to put myfirst name on the package, orwas there someone at the Hotelnamed Michael Reynolds? I hadbeen a supporter of the WPT foryears but didn’t make theassociation with the name. I wassoon introduced to Mike. Ithought that our meeting was afluke but as I think about ittoday, writing this article for thePsittaScene, it was not a fluke, itwas fate.

I had been seeking informationon Golden Conures for a website and had run into dead endseverywhere that I inquired. TheUS Fish and Wildlife Service andthe US Office of ScientificAuthority had no viableinformation on these birds.Upon my introduction to Mike, Iinquired about any knowledgehe may have on the status of thewild populations of the GoldenConure. He was very interested

in my inquisitiveness, as heowned Golden Conures himself,which had just produced theirfirst offspring. After a shortconversation about thesewonderful birds, Mike said thathe would check into the matterand get back to me. I didn’trealise that I had just plantedthe seed that has now growninto the WPT-USA Golden ConureSurvival Fund.

A few weeks after theconvention Mike emailed mestating that he couldn’t find anydocumented data on the GoldenConures and that as far as heknew there had never been aformal study done on thisspecies. I had previously readthat these birds had beenconsidered endangered as farback as 1946. In the UnitedStates, because of the rarity ofthis species, I was required to

obtain an endangered speciespermit prior to ownership. Icouldn’t understand thisdilemma. Why was somethingconsidered to be so rare for somany years not getting any helpfrom the conservationcommunity? Thanks toelectronic mail Mike and Irapidly agreed that this birdneeded our help. We both sharea passion for this species andwe concluded that the WPT-USAwould bear the burden of raisingthe funds for this project. Ivolunteered myself as theprimary fund-raiser.

I have been informed that onlyonce before in the history of theWPT has there been anindependent fund set up for aspecific species. It was for theHyacinth macaw, and that fundwas very successful. I have triedto personally absorb any

administration costs of this fundso as not to dilute thecontributions. Mike started thefund by pledging $20.00 US foreach of his seven GoldenConures, and I followed bycontributing the same for eachthat I hold. We are asking thatall keepers of this species do thesame. Mike challenged theavicultural community for thefirst private donation of$1,000.00 by offering a dollarfor dollar match from the WPT-USA. We received the $1,000.00donation, from WPT memberSusanne Schrader soon after theofficial beginning of the fund inMay 1999.

Good ProgressWe have come a long way in justa few months. Contributions arenow over $7,500. Cyd Riley ofFirefly T shirts has produced astunning Golden ConureSurvival Fund T Shirt. GrantHacking, a world renownedwildlife artist, has agreed to doan original oil painting of theGolden Conure and donate it tothe fund. Charles Munn haswritten the formal proposal forthe field project. And I havespent a huge amount of my timewriting letters asking fordonations and travelling aboutlecturing on our fund to birdclubs and organisations.

A detailed list of contributorscan be found at the end of thisarticle, which was current at thetime of writing. I would like topersonally thank each and everycontributor for helping to makethis project a reality. Everydonation large or small will go along way toward the end resultof saving this species and theentire ecosystem that it residesin. A few of the contacts I’vemade have expressed concernsthat donating to this project willnot help the WPT as a whole,Young hand-reared Golden Conures



stating that, this money isspecifically earmarked for theGolden Conure Fund. This is astand-alone fund, which isolatesthe financial burden of itselffrom the rest of the WPT fundedprojects. In turn, it frees up anequal dollar for dollar amountwithin the WPT InternationalFund to go toward the numerousother projects the WPT iscurrently supporting instead ofsupporting this project;therefore, supporting this fundwill indirectly support all of theWPT projects.

Cyd Riley has stated that theGolden Conure T Shirt is a hotseller. She has shipped nearly200 of them since the firstprinting in late August 1999. Itbears a beautiful Cyd Rileyoriginal of the Golden Conure onthe front and a map of Brazilhighlighting the rapidlyshrinking range of the GoldenConure on the back. Cyd veryelegantly utilised the space onthe back of the shirt for statingwhat little information wecurrently have on this speciesand a tactful plea for help. TheT Shirt is now available throughthe US and UK administrators.Grant Hacking is a South Africanwildlife artist who has moved toIsle of Palms, South Carolina,USA. He is world famous for hisAfrican wildlife oil paintings. Ihave seen his work, and it isspectacular. His paintings are asdefined as a photograph andusually full of action. The depthof his work is three-dimensional.Since moving to the US, he isshifting his interest toindigenous wildlife and he hasalso found a passion for parrots.Grant will be doing an oilpainting of the Golden Conureand donating it to the project tohelp generate income. I will tryto get a good photo of it uponcompletion to be printed in afuture issue of PsittaScene. Wehave not yet decided whether itwill be auctioned off or if printswill be made and sold.

The ProposalCharles Munn writes; In anapplication for ‘Small grantfunds’ to American BirdConservancy (ABC) The GoldenConure (Guaruba guarouba),which also is known as theGolden Parakeet or the Queen-of-Bavaria’s Conure, may be the

most beautiful of the 150species of New World parrots(its only competition being thefour most colourful species oflarge macaws). Yet it has neverbeen studied in the wild and nodata exists about the status ofits wild populations.Furthermore, there are notargeted conservation projectsfor this species or for itsrainforest home, which is theeastern part of the BrazilianAmazon. Surely this speciesshould be able to generatesupport to save itself and largeportions of its rainforest homeif the conservation communitycan provide modest fundingnow to jump-start what shouldbecome a self-financingconservation programmesupported by visits byphotographers, filmmakers, andparrot enthusiasts. Currently,the only way this species isutilised is as a cage bird, butwith the support of ABC andWPT, the Golden Conure shouldbecome an internationallyfamous flagship species for theconservation of Amazonrainforests.

Though found over a largeswathe of the Eastern Amazon of

Brazil, the species seems tooccur at greatest density in thetall rainforests south of Belem inthe eastern Amazonian state ofPara, particularly in the drainageof the Cupim River. There areenough organised conuretrappers in that part of theAmazon that without urgentaction, the species could meltaway without the slightestanalysis of the situation orconcerted attempts to save it inthe wild. This part of theAmazon is also under greatthreat from deforestation forcattle ranching and otheragriculture as well as fromdestructive logging, so anyincentive or projects to savemajor portions of this forest areextremely important. Properlystudied, protected and visible inthe wild, this beautiful parrotspecies should be able to saveconsiderable tracts of wildforest. The initial funding iscritical to start this conservationprocess.

What little is known of thebiology of the Golden Conuresuggests that it lives in whatappear to be family clans ofapproximately 8-15 birds. Allthe birds in one clan travel

together all day to forage in theforest and then return eachafternoon to play just outsideand then finally to roost in asingle, conspicuous cavity in thetrunk or branch of a largecanopy tree. Their fidelity tospecific roosting cavities (whichalso are used for nesting by theadult breeding pair in thenesting season) makes thesebirds easy to trap.

There are two favoured trappingtechniques: One involveserecting a pole with glue-covered branches near aroosting tree and tying a livecalling conure near the pole.When the family clan hears thecalling conure and comes toinvestigate they get stuck to thebranches. The trapper will thenremove them from the branchesusing water to loosen the glue.The other method involvesloosely wrapping a nesting treewith a net to cover the cavityentrance during the night.Pounding the tree will thenstartle the birds scaring theminto the net.

The thrust of this project wouldbe to find and map activeroosting and nesting trees. Onceidentified, appropriate acreagesurrounding these trees couldbe purchased by WPT andBioBrasil Foundation andguarded year round by trainedguards. An ecotourism sitecould be developed, so visitorscould take predictably high-quality photos of these amazingbirds.

The project would provide forguards and guard dogs to patrolthe proposed sites around theclock for the first year. Oncetrappers have been deterred, thehuman guards could be reducedin number and guard onlyduring daylight hours. Thenight-time hours could beadequately guarded by areduced number of dogs. It maybe necessary to erect modestbut impassable barbed wirefences around the roosting andnesting trees, eliminating theneed to fence the entire tract ofland. The purchased tracts couldthen be patrolled on foot, dirtbike, horseback or by car onceor twice a day or several times aweek depending on necessity.Once conspicuous andaggressive guarding has beenestablished, bird trappers would

The beautiful design donated by Cyd Riley of Firefly T-shirts. All profits fromthis shirt go to the Golden Conure Survival Fund.

6 ■ PsittaScene Volume 11, No 3, August 1999

probably give BioBrasil forests awide berth and protection costswould drop accordingly.

EcotourismDevelopmentIncome from ecotourism shouldeventually support year roundprotection of the mapped outnesting and roosting sites. Thisproject will be modelled after avery successful ecotourism sitethat BioBrasil has established toprotect a large flock of HyacinthMacaws in Piaui. On June 15,1999 BioBrasil purchased 2,000hectares (5,000 acres) of drytropical rainforest to protect theHyacinths. From May 1, 1999through August 15, 1999 theBioBrasil preserve has hostednumerous scientific researchersand photographers, and mostrecently a TV crew from the Fox-Family Channel. The grossreceipts from this camp areabout $14,000.00 of which halfare profit. It is projected thatthe income from this campshould be between $100,000.00and $200,000.00 in the year2001. This same strategy shouldwork with the Golden Conure inareas identified as feasible andpurchased by WPT and BioBrasilFoundation.The most viable sites fortourism-financed protection ofGolden Conure nests would bethose that can be reached easilyby conventional road or rivertransport from airports. Inpractice, Belem and Santaremare probably the two cities most

likely to serve as jetports forvisitors who wish to predictablysee protected Golden Conures.The objectives of this proposalwould be to search for andsurvey the species and locateroosting and nesting trees in thearea of Cupim River south ofBele.This search would pinpoint thebest roost trees in accessiblesites, which will allow BioBrasilto unlock earmarked funds thatcurrently are restricted to twoactivities: One is habitatpurchase around the nests ofthis species and two isimplementation of anecotourism infrastructure. Foreach dollar that ABC/WPTcontribute to the search forroost trees, BioBrasil should beable to access as many as 5-15dollars of matching funds forpurchase of forest tracts and forthe installation of permanentguards and a rustic ecotourismsite. The matching funds arerigidly restricted to forestpurchases and protection of thepurchased habitat and cannot beused for the initial research.Thus $5,000 of support fromABC could unlock from $25,000to $75,000 of restricted funding.To unlock this funding, the nesttree search must be successful.The potential for ABC’s supportto unlock 5-15 times as muchfunding should make thisproject especially attractive,because it greatly increases thechances that the initial seedmoney will produce an ongoing,self-funding conservation

programme for this amazing,but little-known species.

Symbol ofConservationThe importance to birdconservation would be to showthat a bird that is primarilyknown as a cage or aviary birdcould become a symbol ofconservation of intact Amazonforest and pay for its ownprotection in the wild. Ofcourse, if Golden Conure nestscan be used to generateprotection of the entire forestecosystem, then this project willhave generated protection ofabout 300 other species of birdsas well. The Eastern Amazonforests of the state of Para areunder particular attack now bythe forces of destruction, andany model projects that can addvalue to that part of the Amazonis particularly important.The lack of even the most basicsurvey data on Golden Conuresmakes it impossible to design aconservation strategy for thespecies. All current efforts atconservation of this popularbird focus on captive breedingwithout regard to the diresituation of the wild population.We feel that the best hope ofensuring the species’ survivallies in first surveying andmapping roost trees and thenimplementing a programme ofland purchase and ecotourism topay for recurrent protection ofthe sites.The research portion of this

project is slated to be donebetween March 1, 2000 and June30, 2000. The best way toevaluate the success of thisproject is to send anexperienced, Portuguese-speaking biologist to visit theidentified nest sites after July 1,2000. BioBrasil has a full-timefield staff of four employeesworking in other conservationprojects in Brazil, who canprovide advice to the field staffof the conure project.

Help from Brazil’sGreatest ParrotExpertCarlos Yamashita will contributehis field expertise at no chargein order to be able to observeGolden Conure behaviour in thewild. Having Brazil's greatestparrot expert available to helpdesign and execute this projectis an enormous opportunity andshould greatly increase thechance of success in locatingnest sites. Mr. Yamashita ispursuing a doctorate at theUniversity of Campinas. Histhesis topic is the genetics ofGolden Conure clans, so afterthe ABC survey project ends, hemay wish to visit some roosttrees to take small bloodsamples from a few clans.

Contributors ListAviculture Care & NutritionalResearch Inc.Barker, JamesBaughman, Anne MarieBaughman, Elaine and WayneCarlson, JanCentral Indiana Cage Bird ClubChristian, ColleenCirino, JoanConners, Daniel and Dawn CaseCSRA Exotic BirdsFeiner, FrancesHorne, James CHubbard, ElaineKing, BruceLuescher, AndrewMajestic Cocka2sMertens, KathyMitchel, LeslieNational Capital Bird ClubPeninsula Cage Bird SocietyReynolds, GlennReynolds, MikeShrader, Susanne and Alan LurieSouthern Maryland Cage Bird ClubWalling, MiriamWPT-USA Matching Funds

Carlos Yamashita and Charlie Munn are supervising our WPTGolden Conure Project. Golden Conure in juvenile plumage. Photo: M. Reynolds

PsittaScene Volume 11, No 3, August 1999 ■ 7

An Island Diaryby GLEN HOLLAND.

Put an Australian, a South African and two Kiwis (one of whom is of half Irish and theother person of half Chinese descent), on an island for two weeks and ... No not the startof a good joke, rather an expedition to capture and transfer female Kaka from CodfishIsland to a mainland population at the Nelson Lakes. Project Leader, Ron Moorhouse, iscurrently studying the success of predator control around Kaka nest sites in relation tofledging success and required the females to boost his mainland study population of 5breeding pairs and numerous spare males. Ron’s assistant Les Morran, Matthew Low, anAustralian Vet and I were the other team members. With this combination of nationalitieswe decided it would be safer to avoid the topics of cricket and rugby!

After checking ourselves forseeds and dirt stuck on ourclothing and shoes, and beinginformed how to ensure we didnot carry any rodents in ourbaggage, we were cleared toleave. Within minutes thechopper was approaching andsoon we had our mountain offood, capture equipment andgeneral baggage loaded roofhigh in the chopper. Twentyminutes later we landed justabove the high water mark onthe island. A quick flurry of off-loading and the chopper wasgone. Immediately thereafter Ibegan to feel that this wassomewhere special, a pristineenvironment and no sound apartfrom the waves and the birds.While wheelbarrowing theequipment to the hut, we hadthe first Kaka flying overhead,calling loudly. While wanderingaround the hut to survey the gasand water supply, I was met byan excited family of browncreeper and a red-crownedKakariki which remained hidden,chattering continually from athicket.

The first afternoon andfollowing morning were spentconstructing the aviary whichwas to house the Kaka prior totheir transfer.

The following morning we setoff to locate and prepare acapture site for Kaka. Firstly werequired a gap in the canopy ofthe forest with tall emergentanchor trees at each end - nottoo far off close apart andsufficient perching treesalongside the capture site. Afterhours of searching and then adays work on preparing the siteto ensure the net would notsnag on surrounding trees, we

finally had the first of whatwould be many sites ready. Alaborious process which Ronand Les were obviously wellaccustomed to, Matt and I weregetting rather anxious at havingbeen on the island for a fewdays but still not having caughta Kaka yet. Finally theconditions were just right - nottoo much sun, no wind and Kakacalling in the area. Hidden undercamouflage nets, Ron turned onthe audio system and soon wehad the sounds of Kaka echoing

through the forest. Almostimmediately a group of Kakaarrived to investigate thecommotion and suddenly a birddropped from the canopystraight into the net. The netwas carefully lowered andamongst a host of growling andclicking sounds the bird wascarefully removed from the net.The rest of the flock becamequite agitated and their loud“kraak” alarm calls echoed aboutus, The large size of the birdand in particular its bill, was

indicative that it was a male andhe was released. The birds, theforest and our team then settleduntil the speakers were workingagain and the air was againfilled with Kaka calls. Two tuiaggressively chasing each otherresulted in one bird in the net.As I approached the bird, Ronshouted “don’t need to warn youabout its claw!” ... Hang! Ithought I had just taken a Kakaout of the net and he is worriedabout a little tui. I felt my eyesbegin to water and the pain wasunbelievable as the tui sank itsneedle sharp claws into myhands, and pierced the quick ofmy finger nail. After Les“purring” to the bird, while it layon its back, Ron called us tolower our end of the net. Aftersome discussion it was decidedthat we needed a recording ofthe local Kaka dialect whichdiffered considerably from theNelson Lakes dialect we wereusing and both differedconsiderably from the NorthIsland birds with which I wasfamiliar. After a series ofcapture sites, each of whichtook a least a day to prepareand the use of the recordedlocal dialect which Ron managedto obtain we had our fourfemales in the aviary. We hadcaught a number of birds whichwere clearly male, their largebeaks identifiable even whenhovering above us in the nets,but we also released a numberof birds which we felt werefemale but their beakmeasurements fell outside theparameters for females. Onemale had a bill length of 58mm,the largest Ron had recordedand he felt that all these birdswere possibly a little larger thantheir more northern cousins.Yellow and red-crownedKakariki, tui (which I nowrespected) and bellbirds were allpart of the by-catch which werereleased.

As the helicopter turned usaway from the group of friendson the beach, I had mixedfeelings of pleasure at thethought of getting back to seemy family, a piece of mewanting to remain and sometrepidation at what was waitingfor me in my in-tray at work.This experience however gaveme great insight into some ofthe diversity which exists inNew Zealand.

Kaka at Kapiti Island, New Zealand. Photo: Rosemary Low


Illegal Traffic inBrazil’s Wildlife

by PEDRO C. LIMA and SAMPAIO DOS SANTOS, CETREL S.A. (photographs by Pedro C. Lima)

Approximately twelve million sylvan animals will simply vanish every year in Brazil dueto the illegal traffic of rare and exotic species. International environmental entitiesestimate that Brazil accounts for US$700 million per year corresponding to 10 to 15percent of the clandestine market in sylvan animals, responsible for the circulation ofUS$10 billion per year in the world. Concerning money circulation, the traffic of sylvananimals is exceeded only by the arms and drugs traffic. As in any illegal traffic, theanimal trade exploits human destitution, driving the needy and ignorant to this activityfor subsistence and causing irreversible harm to the environment, namely the extinctionof species. The damage produced by this type of commerce is appalling and eventuallyirreparable: besides the problems caused to the ecological balance, the sowing of seedsis affected as well as the control of diseases and plagues and the maintenance of the lifecycle equilibrium in the diverse ecosystems.

Many animalsexportedAbout 30 percent of theBrazilian sylvan animalscaptured by the traffickers aresent abroad; the remaining 70percent are transported toclandestine animal husbandryareas or delivered to collectors,but the great majority of thebirds are traded in the streetfree-markets. The value andavailability of the animals

depend solely on their rarity.The rarest species are the primetarget of the traffickers.International environmentalentities estimate thatapproximately 90 percent of theanimals die before they reachtheir final destination. Thedeath rate is directly linked tothe hardships endured by theanimals during theirtransportation from the place ofcapture to the trading site. Thepossible causes of death

include: starvation, thirst,disease, excessive heat, death byasphyxia in non-ventilatedareas, and death by crushing inoverpopulated spaces.

With parrots, macaws andparakeets the traffickers will putout feathers from adults to sellas baby parrots. Occasionallythey will colour the parakeet’splumage similarly to the parrot’sfeathers to simulate babyparrots. Among the innumerableways devised by the traffickers

to smuggle birds to othercountries is to hide the animalsin the false bottoms of trunks,or to fasten them to the liningof the trafficker’s suit. The eggsof some species (principallymacaws and parrots) aretransported in portable hatchingincubators instead of the realspecimen, thus impeding theidentification, control andinspection of the species by thecompetent agencies.

Four stages oftradeThe trade of sylvan animals canbe divided into four stages:

1. Non-endangered specimenscaptured exclusively forsubsistence and traded instreet free-markets and alongthe roads, especially finchesand cardinals. The damage thatone single person can do tosome species in a given regionis powerful. This accounts forthe extinction of some speciesin several areas of our territory,even though they are speciesnot listed as endangered. Theextinction of the Blue-frontedAmazon (Amazona aestiva) inseveral areas of the state ofBahia is a typical example.

Critically endangered species

(i) Spix’s Macaw (Cyanopsittaspixii) has been reduced to onemale in the municipality ofCuraçá, located in the aridregion Bahia. This species hasbeen critically reduced, chieflydue to the illegal traffic. In theearly eighties, the only birdscaptured were the nestlingspecimens and a few adults. Bythe end of the decade, all adultbirds that inhabited themunicipality of Curaçá andneighbouring areas had beencaptured by several groups oftraffickers originating from thestate of PiauÌ. However, illegalcapture is not the only elementto threaten this species.

(ii) Lear’s Macaw (Anodorhynchusleari) is the second mostendangered species of thisregion. However the illegaltraffic still stands as the majorforce to threaten the extinctionof this blue macaw. We havebeen informed that more than50 adult birds have beencaptured by the traffickersA pair of Spix’s Macaws in Sao Paulo 1992. Photo:M. Reynolds


during the last 5 years, out of anestimate of 130 birds.

2. The second stage isordering the bird. Thisactivity is generally carried outin residences, street markets orroads. The birds are transportedto the selling sites andtemporarily hidden in theneighbourhood. The rare speciesare commercialised withpotential buyers in the streetmarkets under the falsepretence of buying/sellingcommon birds. In this kind ofcommerce the birds for sale areusually baby macaws, parrots,toucans and other equallyvaluable species. The ordertrade has been developed in thelast ten years, exactly whenIBAMA started to be active in thestreet markets.

3. The third stage focuses onrare animals - those birdswhich are not exhibited in thestreet markets and are intendedfor a particular type of buyer.Rare species as well as otherspecial animals are capturedupon the request of someBrazilian collectors, who eitherkeep them or export themabroad. The animals can betraded for other rare species, orsold. This traffic is made easyby the lack of knowledge of theairport customs officials on theBrazilian species.

4. The fourth stage is relatedto the egg traffic of rarespecies. This is an activitywhich has been increasinglydeveloped during the last tenyears due to several factors.Currently, effective initiatives toeradicate the illegal trade ofanimals are being intensified atairports in an attempt to stopthe bird traffic. Also the projectimplemented by CITES includesthe control of the species inother countries and promotesthe repatriation of the birds totheir country of origin.Furthermore modern technologyhas led to improvements suchas efficient portable incubatorsfor egg hatching, and balancedfood rations developed byinternational companies, thusrendering the egg traffic morelucrative and a safe alternative.

Another factor which should betaken into consideration is theofficial sanction of the Braziliangovernment to the trade of

Brazilian birds hatched incaptivity. Considering that thetraffic of chicks and eggs(especially of the parrot andmacaw species) is growingsteadily, these two factors cansometimes be used byunscrupulous breeders tolegalise chicks and eggsoriginating from the clandestinemarket. The procedure is toband these birds afterwards. Toavoid this practice, it isnecessary to adopt a speciallegislation which requires DNAtesting to determine theparentage of the birds traded inthe official market.

ReintroductionprogrammeCETAS (Sylvan Animals SelectionCenter - CETREL/IBAMA) wasfounded in 1997 by CETREL andIBAMA to reintroduceconfiscated birds to theirnatural habitat. Other aims wereto develop efficient ways ofcuring diseases which affectbirds and to prevent theirdissemination; and to researchreintroduction techniques tofacilitate the safe release ofbirds to avoid procedures whichcould jeopardise birds in thewild. Operating for one full year,CETAS has already received4,805 birds of 121 differentspecies, many being passerines.When admitted, they receiveantibiotics (penicillin and sulfa),vermifuge and vitamins.

Successful reintroduction shouldinclude specific procedures suchas arranging feeders withdifferent types of food instrategic locations for their firstdays of freedom. In the next 15to 20 days the birds will be ableto search for food in their newhabitat.

Of the birds received, 68percent have been freed, 11percent will be set free and 21percent have died. Of the 22species ready to be introduced,some deserve to be mentioned:the Blue-fronted Amazon(Amazona aestiva xanthopteryx)totalled 105 specimens; 80

percent are young birds ready tobe reintroduced to thebrushwood covered region(caatinga) inhabited by thespecies. The adult birds seizedfrom private residences aredestined for reproduction andtheir offspring will bereintroduced to their naturalhabitat. We have adopted thesame procedure for the macaws.

Co-operatingorganisationsWe would like to list all theorganisations which arecontributing to the eradicationof the traffic in our state:IBAMA-BA (Salvador, Teixeira deFreitas and Bom Jesus da Lapa);IBAMA-PI (Teresina); CRA(Salvador and Freitas deSantana); Politica Ambiental(Salvador); EnvironmentalDepartment of Feira de Santana;Public Ministry of Feira deSantana; State University ofFeira de Santana (EEA -Environmental Education Team);FENATEST - National Federationof Safety Technicians of Feira deSantana; Zoological Garden ofSalvador; BioBrasil Foundation;WCS (Wildlife ConservationSociety); World Parrot Trust;Leari Blue Parrot PreservationCommittee; and all anonymouspersons who voluntarily donatetheir birds to CETREL to bereintroduced to their naturalhabitat.

Not wild-caught, this tame Blue-fronted Amazon enjoys meeting people.

Lear’s Macaws near Curaca, Brazil. Photo:Claudio Marigo


Bolivia, Blue-throatedMacaws and MacawWings for Saleby SUSAN AND HARRY ARMITAGEWe hear things are getting a bit crowded around Puerto Maldonado andthe Tambopata Candamo reserve in Peru these days. Sixteen thousandvisitors to Puerto Maldonado last year! We can’t stand crowds personallyand there are alternatives.... We had heard that there are lots of parrotsin Bolivia. Clearly it was time to do a bit of internet research.

Bordering Peru but less densely populated and less frequented bytourists, Bolivia is the next place to go. However once again no-one wantsto tell you the facts. There are many large foreign tour firms willing totake you to all parts of Bolivia for the most incredible sums of money,(bearing in mind that this is a third world economy). Information has tobe prised from the internet.

The department ofBeni, home of theBlue-throatedMacawOn the brink of extinction (lessthan 200 individuals left) thisbird is now the target of theworld’s twitchers. It was knownfor many years in captivitybefore Charles Munn located itsorigin. No-one wants to tell you,but its range is now verydiscontinuous and lies to theNorth of Trinidad, capital city ofthe department. It resembles asmaller blue and gold macawbut the eye patch stripes areblue as is of course the throat.

When we arrived in Santa Cruzthe temperature was a sizzling35°C with hot gusty winds. Aftera long night bus journey andseveral adventures we arrived inthe hotter still (43°C) humid cityof Trinidad only 15° South of theEquator and an experience all onit’s own.

There we met one Lyliam

Gonzales, who together with hersister, runs a small travelagency, ‘Paradiso’. Lyliam is aparrot nut and with her we wereable to see the blue throatedmacaw and many others. Theland in this area is all privatelyowned but Lyliam is friendlywith the owner of the EstanciaCutal and we were able to visit,staying in a log cabin and diningon standard cowboy fare, herecattle is king. The road to Cutalis long, hot, dusty and/ormuddy. The palm island wherethe blue throated macaw arelocated has no road at all andlies another 30km into thePampas.

At and around the Cutal we sawsix Ara glaucogularis and alsoother parrots including Araararauna, Ara chloropteris, Arasevera, several differentamazons and many parakeets.

What WeDiscoveredSo what did we find out aboutthis highly endangered species,

Ara glaucogularis?

a. In the past many have beentrapped and exported toNorth America, long after itwas illegal to do so. This isless so at the moment due tothe fact that they are nowextremely hard to find. Priceshave fallen as they areapparently fairly easy tobreed in captivity. However, aknown trapper has been in thevicinity asking questionsabout blue throated macaw.

b. The grassland surroundingthe palm islands where theylive and hopefully breed isburned on a regular basis.Should the fire spread into anisland (and it could easily)this would be catastrophic.

c. Habitat destruction. Everyyear the islands becomesmaller due to burning andbrowsing by cattle.

d. A well known American Eco-tourism firm is proposing tofly well heeled foreigntourists into the Estancia SanMiguel, where the largest

numbers of macaws are to befound. This possibility isviewed with alarm by localconservationists.

e. Lyliam Gonzales and‘Armonia’ are conducting aneducation programme of localpeople and are trying to getthe local land owners co-operation to preserve thepalm island habitat.

f. Very little research has beendone into the blue throatedmacaw and how it interactswith the far more numerousAra ararauna with which itmingles freely.

Home of the RedFronted Macaw:In the border between thedepartments of Santa Cruz andCochabamba, there are thoughtto between 1500 and 2000 Red-fronted Macaws remaining in thewild, so whilst not as critical asthe blue throated macaw thingsclearly are not good. As far as Icould find out, only Hermano

A pair of Blue-throated Macaws in the wild. Photo: H. Armitage


Andrés is looking out for thered fronted macaw. It is the onlymacaw to live in this elevatedand arid habitat. As far as Icould discover the place to lookis near Tambo, not shown onany map I could lay my handson. We could discover no otherdetails.

The Red-fronted Macaw isknown locally as the “LoroBurro” (Donkey Parrot) as itwon’t speak. It lives in a verydifferent habitat to the Blue-throated Macaw, living in themedium altitude semi-aridscrubland of the Easternfoothills of the Andes. Thornybushes and trees along withgiant cactus dominate thelandscape. The temperature canrange from sub-zero to 30°C.Rain usually arrives in the formof tropical storms.

When we arrived inPampagrande cold rain wasfalling with intermittentthunderstorms. Hermano Andrésruns a small bunk house withprimitive facilities which waswhere we stayed. However itwas a palace compared with howthe local people live, in the mostdesperate of poverty andsqualor. There is one smalleating house which we used,also from time to time we dinedwith the good brother’sparishioners. The next morningit was still raining, the localriver thundered by, heavy withsilt and debris. Suddenlyhowever over our heads flew aflock of Red-fronted Macaws, inthe near freezing rain close tothe cloud base. This is the onlymacaw I have seen that will flyin such conditions.

The macaws migrate daily fromtheir nesting and roosting placesto their feeding places. HermanoAndrés has been keeping trackof their numbers andmovements for years, howeveris the first to admit to nothaving a complete picture by along chalk. A much widergeographic study has beencarried out by Robin Clark.

So what did wefind out about theRed FrontedMacaw?(a) This bird is also protected

under CITES, but in the pasthas been heavily trapped.The method used was tospread nets over bait, whenthe birds landed their feetbecame entangled in thenets. Hermano Andrés hasbeen actively promoting theconservation theme sohopefully in his area at least,this activity has beencurtailed.

(b) The Red-fronted Macaw nestsin cliffs, but many of thenest sites used in the past

are now abandoned.

(c) The scrubby trees and cactuswhere this species feeds isbeing cleared and burned soreducing their habitat.Needless to say they are notwelcome on the farmer’smaize crops that replaces itand have been shot in thepast (and may still be).

(d) A study was carried out someyears ago by ornithologistRobin Clark. Virtually all ofhis recommendations wereignored, indeed the situationhas worsened dramaticallysince that time.

The Santa CruzZooWe also paid a visit to the SantaCruz Zoo where we had heardthat there are both Araglaucogularis and Ararubrogenys. This indeed provedto be the case, at the time therebeing eight of the former andbetween fifteen and twenty ofthe latter.

At this zoo are kept, mostly inappalling conditions, nearlyeverything that walks and fliesin South America. Here

imprisoned in tiny cages arevirtually every macaw you canthink of, the giant Andeancondor and the mighty harpyeagle. Urchins throw popcorn atthe rare spectacled bears andjaguars. The maned wolf hasdied through neglect.

This institution is, according tolocal conservationists, a clearinghouse for the rarest ofcollectable animals, whichdisappear and are replacedregularly.

Birds and animals confiscatedby customs and park officialsare sent here, not one has everbeen released into the wild.

The Grisly LittleShop in TrinidadDuring our wanderings aboutTrinidad we stumbled across ‘LaGanaderia’, one of several craftshops to be found in Trinidad.

It has a large stock of goodsmade from animal parts inwhich the macaw figures highly.Macaw wings and tails completewere for sale for about £2.00,Macaw skulls were for sale forabout 50 pence. Also for salewere head-dresses (not Indianstyle made from the longer tailfeathers but tourist style madefrom the wing feathers). Otheritems were made from ocelotand jaguar skins, anaconda andcaiman.

I am pleased to say that ourwebpage report has resulted inan absolute deluge ofcomplaints. Several internationalorganisations have taken up thiscase and I hope the pressure puton Bolivian authorities willcause them to act.

More headdresses. Photo: H. Armitage

Macaw wings on sale in the shop in Trinidad. Photo: H. Armitage

Macaw skulls. Photo: H. Armitage

12 ■ PsittaScene Volume 11, No 4, November1999

Cape York PalmCockatoo Studyby STEVE MURPHY

Recent genetic evidence suggests that when compared to other cockatoos, palmcockatoos are the most distantly related species. But this may not be that surprisingwhen you look at their suite of quite unusual characteristics. They are the world’s onlyall black-plumaged cockatoo; they perform percussion displays with instruments whichthey make themselves; they have naked cheek patches which they can conceal or evenchange colour according to mood; they have a very long, erectile crest; they have avariety of calls including an almost human-like ‘hello’ and other ear-splitting calls; andthey have one of the largest and most formidable beaks of all birds. Despite all of thesecharacteristics, little is known about the biology of wild palm cockatoos. On top of allthis, it has been suggested that palm cockatoo numbers are declining in all parts of theirrange (New Guinea, the Aru Islands and Cape York Peninsula, Australia). All of this meantthat when I was given the chance to study these birds as a PhD project, I jumped at it.

The project is based at TheAustralian National University inCanberra, Australia, and the fieldwork is being conducted on CapeYork Peninsula - the only placepalm cockatoos are found inAustralia. Academic supervisionis provided by Dr. Rob Heinsohnand Prof. Andrew Cockburn, and I

have an advisory panel consistingof Dr. Stephen Garnett, Dr. SarahLegge, and Dr. Mike Double.Funding for the project comesfrom the World Parrot Trust whohave generously providedA$30,000. In addition, I havereceived an AustralianPostgraduate Award Scholarship,

and support from The StuartLeslie Fund for Bird Research(from the Royal AustralasianOrnithological Union).

Project AimsThe general aim of the researchis to fill the large gaps in ourunderstanding of palm cockatooecology. This is so that we maybe able to identify any currentor potential threateningprocesses, thus placingourselves in a better position tomanage this species in thefuture. Specifically, I will bemonitoring nest sites forbreeding activity, which willhelp to define the breedingseason (if there is one) andallow us to determine thebreeding effort and success inthe study area. Also, I hope tocatch and radio-track severalbirds to determine how farindividuals move, where they goand what they do when they getthere. This information will beused to determine home rangesize (including potentially wide-ranging seasonal forays forfood) and time budgets so thatwe can understand whichcomponents within palmcockatoo habitat are essentialrequirements for survival. Iwould also like to radio-tracknewly fledged or juvenile birdsto investigate the vagaries ofpost-fledging survival. The last

component of the study will bean analysis of the geneticvariation among the remainingpopulations of palm cockatoos.This will give us informationabout the past and presentrelatedness of the populations,thereby allowing us to quantifyindividual movement betweenpopulations.

So far....As can be imagined, muchpaper-work and logisticalplanning has had to go intoorganising such an ambitiousresearch project. So far, I havebeen able to obtain all thenecessary permits to begin fieldwork and I have also consultedthe local Aboriginal people, whoI hope to involve in theresearch. Thanks to the WPT, Ihave also acquired a fieldvehicle and much of thenecessary equipment that I’llneed for working in the field.Together with generous supportfrom the Palm Cockatoo SpeciesSurvival Project and theAvicultural Breeding andResearch Centre, I am also in theprocess of importing a stuffedpalm cockatoo from the UnitedStates which I’m hoping to useas a decoy to catch wild birds.I’m also hoping to use it interritoriality experiments.

But it hasn’t been all desk work.Early in July, I and twocolleagues from the ANUtravelled to Adelaide Zoo to triala dummy radio-transmitter on acaptive palm cockatoo. I decidedto trial a 16g tail-mounttransmitter which, as the namesuggests is glued and stitched tothe underside of one of thecentral tail feathers [see photo].After three days we checked thetransmitter for signs of damage,but it appeared that very littledamage was done, which wasvery promising given the size ofthat formidable beak! The Zoohas kindly allowed us to keepthe transmitter on the bird untilit drops off (or is eventuallypulled off). In addition to thistrial, I and Richard Hill (who isresearching southern red-tailedblack cockatoos) have beentrialing dummy radio-transmitters on captive yellowand red-tailed black cockatoosowned by the Gowland famliy

A rare shot of a Palm Cockatoo in the wild, Cape York area. Photo: Peter Marsack

near Canberra. Thanks to thesupport from both the Gowlandsand Adelaide Zoo, the results ofthese trials will place myself andRichard in an excellent positionto decide which approach totake with wild birds.

I have had two small fieldsessions so far this year; one inJanuary and another, muchwetter one in April. The aims ofthese two trips were: (a) tochoose and then familiarisemyself with a study area; (b) tostart finding some nest sites;and (c) organise someaccommodation. The main area Iwill be concentrating my effortsupon is a large patch of tropicalgrassy woodland which hasseveral rainforest-boardedcreeks passing through it. It also

has a relatively large populationof palm cockatoos, and severalknown nests that QueenslandParks and Wildlife ranger DarynStorch worked on several yearsago. Daryn showed me theseand other nests in the April fieldtrip. The last objective - to findaccommodation - was fulfilledby the generous offer of localwell-known naturalist BrianVenables who has kindly offeredhis house at Cape Weymouth.

To come....The first priority of the currentfield session (which has onlyjust begun) will be to trap andfit radio-transmitters to as manypalm cockatoos as possible.We’re hoping to catch about 10adults while they’re feeding on

fallen fruits, using a flip-trapspecially built for the purpose atthe ANU. It is possible that palmcockatoos may be movingaround, following the fruiting ofvarious trees. By catching birdsfeeding in areas which have aseasonal supply of food, weshould be able to find outwhether or not these birds areeither residents of the placewhere they are caught, or doindeed move over large areas toforage. We are also hoping to fittransmitters to breeding birdsthat we trap in the vicinity ofnests. This will be important todetermine the home range andextent of any foraging foraysthat breeding birds make.Eventually, I hope to use thesedata to understand therelationship between foraging


Palm Cockatoo is anaesthetised before radio transmitter is fitted. Photos: Steve Murphy

effort and breeding success.

So, in this first report of theCape York palm cockatooresearch project, I am pleased toannounce that things are finallyup and running. With thisprogress, especially afterachieving my aims from the firsttwo field trips, I’m hoping that itis a sign of great things to come.

Further ReadingBrown, D. M. and Toft, C. A.(1999). Molecular systematicsand biogeography of thecockatoos (Psittaciformes :Cacatuidae). Auk. 116:141-157.

Forshaw, J.M. and Cooper, W.T.(1981). Australian Parrots.Second Edition. LansdowneEditions. Melbourne.

How you can help our Palmcockatoo project:The World Parrot Trust made a commitment to find A$30,000(approx. £12,500 or US$20,000) over three years. Our fourthpayment of A$5,000 is due in January 2000. Half of this will beprovided by our Australian branch, but the rest, about £1,050,must come from our UK funds. Any contributions towards this,perhaps from owners of Palm Cockatoos, or members whosimply want to help this excellent project, would be verywelcome. Please send cheques to our UK office.

How you can help Pesquet’s Parrot(See pages 2 and 3)WPT is not currently contributing towards the work on Pesquet’sParrot in Papua New Guinea. This is part of a major long termprogram funded and carried out by Wildlife Conservation Societyin PNG. However, when corresponding with Andrew Mack and hisassociate Dhananjaya Katju, we asked if there were something wecould do to help, and they replied asking if we could supply agood spotting scope and a pair of Leica 10x42 waterproofbinoculars. The latter are listed at £689 ($1,100), and the scopewould be similar. So here’s an opportunity for a WPT member tohelp fund these essential items. Also, if anyone has any unwantedbinoculars, please send them to our UK or USA offices - they arealways welcome in any of our field projects. Many thanks.


Vol.No Content Page Author

11.3 Parrots in the wild - Red-tailed amazon parrot 20 Paulo Martuscelli

11.3 More on Spix-Macaw 18 Michael Reynolds

11.3 Intl News Round Up - mess. Sumba Indonesia, Thailand island habitat destroyed, 16-18 Margaret Kinnaird, Canada symp, new WPT T shirt, Parrot nutrition info req, UK conf, young Kakapo Don Mertonokay, WPT benelux, ABC/WPT cons grants, Award parrots, Major Disney grantABC/WPT, Birds 99 conf Aust.

11.3 Cockatoos and Peanuts at Lakeland Australia 14-15 Stephen Garnett

11.3 Project Proposal - The ecology and status of the Cape Parrot in South Africa 13 Colleen T Downs

11.3 Final Blows for the Cape Parrot? 12 Mike Perrin, ColleenT Downs, Craig Symes

11.3 Listening to Echos and Searching for Ghosts - parrot conservation on Mauritius 10-11 Carl Jones

11.3 Monty Python in Zambia - Black-cheeked lovebird, Brown-necked parrot, Meyers parrot 9 Louise Warburton

11.3 So where do we go from here: WPT 8 Michael Reynolds

Paradise Park NewsletterWe illustrate the latest newsletter from Paradise Park, Hayle, Cornwall, UK, where the trust is based andreceives much logistical and financial support. This newsletter is designed primarily for ParadisePark’s season ticket holders, adopters of birds and mammals (otters, red pandas, marmosets, redsquirrels), and supporters of our programme to reintroduce the Chough to Cornwall. This red leggedCrow is the ‘national bird’ of Cornwall, went extinct in Cornwall in 1971, and aviary bred birds willbe released to the wild from Paradise Park in early 2000. The park also plans to release a group ofeight Red Squirrels bred at the park, also once native to Cornwall, and also not seen in the wildthere for nearly thirty years.

Paradise Park would be happy to send a copy of the newsletter to UK residents who send in a SAE(stamped addressed envelope) of 12 inches by 9 inches. Outside the UK, please send £3 or $5to cover postage and handling.

If anyone would like details of the Paradise Park Animal Adoption Scheme, please ask. The charges for thisrange between £30 and £200 a year, and many very rare parrots are available, such as St. Lucia and St.Vincent parrots, Keas, Hyacinths, Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, Golden Conures, Leadbeaters and otherCockatoos. Please note that these funds go to Paradise Park, not the World Parrot Trust. But anythingthat helps Paradise Park, also helps the Trust!

New World Parrot TrustCatalogThis is included as an insert in this issue, and we would like to point out that all orders will nowbe handled from our UK office. We will shortly have this catalogue on our website, and this should openup new opportunities to win funds for the parrots.

At last - the PsittaScene IndexSince we published the first issue of PsittaScene in October 1989 wehave frequently been asked for an Index of the entire contents ofPsittaScene, now up to 40 issues. Such an index would clearly behelpful to scientists and students interested in the ten years work ofthe World Parrot Trust, together with the many reports of otherorganisations’ parrot conservation activities.

We are pleased to report that our new UK administrator KarenAllmann has celebrated six months with us by producing this longawaited Index. We illustrate a sample of it here, but the whole thingcan be downloaded from our website (www.worldparrottrust.org), oryou can send us £3 or $5 for a hard copy.

Lear’s Macaw - Limited Edition Print

by David Johnson (25.5 x 18in)

Choose from our range of Parrot related items

and send your orders directly to:

The World Parrot Trust

Glanmor House, Hayle, TR27 4HB, UK

Phone: 00 44 1736 753365 Fax: 00 44 1736 756438

Email: [email protected] Website: www.worldparrottrust.org

World Parrot Trust Catalog

World Parrot Trust Catalog

If parrots could reallyspeak, what would

they tell us?- Some thoughts for the millenniumThe World Parrot Trust believes that these beautiful,sensitive birds would have a sorry tale to tell. Theirassociation with our species has not benefited them,indeed they have been exploited by us for hundredsof years, and especially so in the past thirty years.It is true that many pet parrots are kept in excellentconditions by devoted people who give them a goodquality of life. The birds respond by givingintelligent companionship of a high order.It is also true that parrots are still trapped in thewild in large numbers and sold for trifling sums ofmoney in local markets. From here they are likely tobe traded on to national and international markets.For every bird that survives this process, at leastfour will die along the way.

If the parrots could speak theywould ask to be spared, to beleft in their natural homes.

Since the World Parrot Trust wasformed ten years ago it hascampaigned for a complete endto trade in wild caught parrots.This trade has been reduced,but still continues, andconstitutes a threat to thesurvival of many species. TheUnited States has a ‘Wild BirdConservation Act’ that preventsthe importation of any wild-

caught birds into the US.Unfortunately for the birds, theEuropean Union has no suchlegislation, and no plans tointroduce any. The WorldParrot Trust is seekingsupport for a European ‘WildBird Conservation Act’.

The trapping and importation ofwild-caught parrots is not onlycruel and wasteful, it is nolonger necessary. This isbecause the hobby of aviculturehas developed its skills to thepoint where it can breed incaptivity all the young birdsneeded to supply the growingdemand for pets. What is more,these aviary-bred parrots arelikely to become moresatisfactory pets because theyare accustomed to humans.

Would the parrots speak infavour of this development? Webelieve they might, provided thehighest standards of bird breedingand pet keeping are achieved.

The aims of the World ParrotTrust are the survival of parrotspecies in the wild, and thewelfare of captive birds. Wehave now launched our‘PARROTS NEED HELP to survivein the wild, to thrive in ourhomes.’ campaign. This isintended to focus publicconcern on the parrots and theirproblematical future.

The new IUCN/SSC PARROTACTION PLAN (largely funded byThe World Parrot Trust) statesthat 89 of the 350 species ofparrot are threatened. TheWorld Parrot Trust has providedfunding for the conservation of37 of these threatened species.These projects are ongoing,expensive, and represent only afraction of the situationsneeding help.

Hong Kong Bird Market

...to survive in the wild...to thrive in our homesA WORLD PARROT TRUST CAMPAIGN

www.worldparrottrust.org

We seek the concern andpractical assistance of everyonewho recognises the specialcharm and importance of theparrots, and the extreme threatsto their survival.

In particular, we strongly believethat everyone who keeps parrotsshould accept a share ofresponsibility for helping fundthe survival of parrots in thewild. Even more so, thebusinesses that benefit fromparrot created income of at least$10 Billion a year worldwideshould put substantial sumsback into the conservation ofthese birds.

The parrots would demandnothing less. But let’s face it,parrots cannot really speak.The World Parrot Trust tries tospeak on their behalf, and sodoes John Cleese in our ‘LiveParrot Video’.

He says: ‘Can we really acceptthe extinction of these beautifulcreatures? The parrotsdesperately need our help, soplease support the internationalconservation work of The WorldParrot Trust.’

A final thought:IF WE CAN SAVE THEPARROTS, WE MAY YET SAVEOURSELVES


News Study: Rainforest fading fasterthan thoughtby JEFF DONN, Associated PressBrazil’s Amazon rain forest isbeing destroyed or badlydamaged more than twice asfast as previously believed,according to a study that reliedon airplane surveys and on-the-ground interviews instead ofsatellite images.The researchers said theirmethod more accuratelymeasured the effects of loggingand burning in the 1.3 million-square-mile rain forest.“It’s perhaps even morefrightening”, said Bill Mankin,Director of the Global ForestPolicy Project of two majorenvironmental groups. “It’sgoing to creep up on us, andpeople may not even be craftinga solution because they don’trealise there’s a problem.”The study was carried out largelyby ecologist Daniel Nepstad ofthe Woods Hole Research Centerin Massachusetts and colleaguesat the Institute of EnvironmentalResearch in Belem, Brazil. Theyinterviewed 1,393 wood milloperators and 202 landholders,and checked the effect of firesfrom an airplane at 1,104sample points.Their findings were published inrecent issue of the journalNature.They concluded that analystswho study satellite images aremissing much of the damagefrom logging and fires set toclear land for farming orpasture.Nepstad put the loss at 17,000square miles last year, or threetimes the official Brazilianestimate of 5,7000. But 1998was an especially bad yearbecause of El Niño droughtconditions. He estimated that inan average year, actual damageis at least twice the official,

satellite-based estimate.Nepstad estimated that 217,000square miles, or 16 percent, ofthe original rain forest has beenspoiled over the years.The findings trouble somescientists and environmentalistsbecause perhaps a third of theworld’s plant and animal specieslive in the rain forest.“As we lost species, we don’tknow which one is the criticalone, the keystone species thatresults in the whole systemfalling apart”, said RobertSanford Jr., a University ofDenver ecologist.The researchers also worryabout huge quantities of carbondioxide entering the atmospherefrom the fires and rotting woodleft by loggers. Carbon dioxideis thought to cause globalwarming.Also, some scientists fear thatdamage to the rain forest, whichgives off enormous amounts ofwater vapour and keeps theground from drying out, couldthrow the Earth’s climate out ofbalance.The researchers called for morejudicious logging, moreprevention of accidental firesand curbs on roads, power gridsand water systems.

News: The World’sRarest BirdReport from San FranciscoChronicle by JACK EPSTEINThe Spix macaw, a 2 foot longbird with dark blue plumage,grey-blue head and brightyellow eyes, was thought to beextinct in the wild untildiscovered nine years ago by aBirdlife International expedition(40% funded by the WPT - Ed).The last of the species is a malebelieved to be at least 13 yearsold. Although he is the last ofhis kind the wild, he is notalone. World-wide, there are 44Spix macaws that have beensmuggled out of Brazil or bornin captivity.

Spix macaws have always livednear Curaca, a backland’s townof 6,000 inhabitants locatedalong the south bank of the SaoFrancisco River.In the denuded landscape, thesole survivor engages in a dailysurvival routine, foraging forfood among cactus, sage andprickly, stunted trees known ascaatinga. Each day, he flies off atdaybreak to a treetop nest topick up his female companion ofthe past eight years, a greenIlliger macaw.

They spend the entire daysearching for food, flying anaverage of 24 miles on theirforays.

“When it comes to finding food,he has more patience than anyhuman being I know”, said JorgeSouza Rose, who has monitoredthe bird’s movements by foot,jeep and bicycle since 1991 andconsiders himself the Spix’s“bodyguard”.

When the avian couple return atsunrise, the Spix waits until hismate enters her nest in acaraibeira tree before flying tohis bachelor digs inside a cactusbush. To date, the Spix and theIlliger have produced infertileeggs.

In 1995, biologists decided tomate the male Spix with afemale of his own species. Sincethe female Spix had been raisedin captivity, scientists put herthrough an intensive seven-month training to build up herflying stamina and help heradapt to a new diet of seedsfrom local trees before releasingher into the wild.Although the female waseventually accepted by the Spix

and the Illiger as an equalpartner, she vanished just sevenweeks later. Her whereaboutsremained a mystery until agoatherd recently admitted thathe had witnessed her death butkept it secret for four years forfear that the project would end.The female Spix, he said, hadcollided with an overhead wire.Most recently, biologists placednine Illiger chicks in the nest tosee if the Spix and Illiger wouldmake adequate parents. Thecouple immediately beganfeeding the baby macaws andteaching them how to fly andfind food.In March, the young Illigers setoff on their own and are nowmonitored via radio collars.Editor’s comment:Information on Spix’s Macaw ishard to get, and although wecannot guarantee the accuracyof this article we thought itworth printing. We also have anunconfirmed report that BirdsInternational in Manila,Philippines, have offered toreturn six young aviary-bredSpix’s Macaw to Brazil, to join thesingle male in the wild. Ifcorrect, Mr. De Dios is to becongratulated on moving thisvital project forward.

Funds from WPT -ItalyA group of members of WPTItaly visited Paradise Park inSeptember, and brought withthem a substantial donation of£1000 to go toward WPT’s fundfor Lear’s Macaw. Most of thiswas collected by GiancarloMacchiavelli, who is currentlybuilding some very large aviaries


At Paradise Park (l to r): Karen Allmann (WPT Admin.), Audrey Reynolds, Mikeand Judy Owen (WPT Australia), Cristina Ratti, Cristiana Senni, GiancarloMacchiavelli (WPT Italy).

Going, going....

for breeding macaws, and askedthe materials suppliers tocontribute towards WPT.

News from WPT -USAby GAIL BUHLA third of the world’s parrotspecies’ are declining. Some arevery endangered, like theHyacinth macaw featured in theWorld of Birds Show atMinnesota Zoo. Even though inthe wild, these parrot livehalfway around the world, in theshow we talked about how thepeople of Minnesota can dosomething to help. All of us canrecycle more, reduce what weuse and reuse materials moreeffectively. This helps us locallybut helps global habitats byreducing pollution and habitatdestruction. People can alsosupport conservationorganisations like the zoo, ororganisations like the WorldParrot Trust.The World Parrot Trust (WPT)was founded in 1989. Theydesignated August as WorldParrot Month. What they striveto do is raise funds to donate topeople / organisations that aredoing field conservation workdirectly helping parrots in thewild. To date, they havecontributed to projects in 22different countries helping 37different species of parrots. Oneof the other goals of the WPT isto promote the welfare ofindividual parrots kept incaptivity by providing fundingto educational programmes andpromoting high standards in thekeeping of parrots.The Bird Show staff decided thatone direct way we can help isnot only promoting World ParrotMonth in our show, but to “walkthe talk” and try to raise moneyfor the organisation. I am happy

to say that the people in ouraudiences really responded byhelping us raise $671.61. Theshow of support was veryencouraging for conservation. Itwas wonderful for us to see thatpeople seemed to be concernedand happy that they couldcontribute at least a little to thesolution of some of theproblems facing parrots in thewild.

Smugglers trapNigeria’sEndangered GreyParrots to Brink ofExtinctionEarth Times News Service byABIODUN RAUFU26 September 1999

Lagos, Nigeria. Until recentlywhen the people of Ikodi villageraised alarm about the rapidrate at which African Greyparrots were being smuggledout of Nigeria, the illegal exportof the colourful bird had largelybeen going on for yearsunnoticed. Each parrot sells forat least $500 on theinternational pet market, mostending up in Europe,particularly Scotland which isregarded as the main base of theinternational market in Africangrey parrots.The parrot, Psittacus erithacus,is mainly found in the swampsand mangrove forests of WestAfrican countries like Nigeria,Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, SierraLeone, Ghana and Liberia. InIkodi village, which is locallyknown as parrots paradise, onthe south-eastern coast of thecountry, the grey birds with ascarlet tail can be found on thebank of Orashi River.The exact number of parrots

there is not known. But theparrots which live on theclustered tall palm trees of thecommunity’s forest is estimatedto run into several thousands.The tall palm trees protect thebirds from predators, while thetrees’ clustered nature givesthem a sense of communality.The poachers having failed toinduce the Ikodi people to trapthe parrots for them went to theneighbouring villages wherethey hired young men to raidthe Ikodi community forest totrap the parrots. The trappersare paid about N1,00 (aboutUS$10) for each parrot. Theresult has been violent clashesbetween the trappers and theIkodi villagers.One such clash recently left twoIkodi youths dead. Efforts by theIkodis to get justice has so farbeen unsuccessful as localauthorities have been unwillingto get involved. “My appeal isthat government should come toour aid,” says Chief WilberforceAleme, the embattled head ofIkodi village.Meanwhile, the poaching of theparrots continue unabated asthe poachers attempt to satisfythe high demand for the birds.The African grey parrot isvalued as pet because of itsbeauty and intelligence which isreflected in its unusual ability tomimic human beings.Mike Pugh of the London-basedWorld Society of the Protectionof Animals (WSPA) who has beenon the trail of wildlife smugglerssays unscrupulous local officialsare bribed by smugglers toprovide the necessary clearancepapers. Pugh also says hediscovered that the airportthrough which most of thewildlife are exported out ofNigeria is the Aminu Kano

International Airport in thenorthern city of Kano. “At theairport, I saw a man carrying acrate being prepared to exportfive chimps, one gorilla and, in aseparate compartment, 250African grey parrots.” says Pugh.The poachers’ gain is howeverIkodi’s loss as the poachers’activities threaten thecommunity’s local economywhich is based on theconservation of the parrots.Though the villagers are mainlyfarmers and fishermen, theyalso sell feathers of the parrotswhich fall off naturally toaugment their income. Eachfeather is sold for N15 (about 15cents) to middlemen who cometo the village to buy the feathersin bulk to resell to people forornamental purposes and asvital ingredient in making localdrugs for a number of illnesses.Easy accessibility to the parrot’sfeathers has reduced poverty inIkodi and no one goes hungrywhen all it takes to feed is towalk into the community forestto pick feathers.

Local people are forbidden byage-old custom from killing thebirds or felling the trees onwhich they live. Bush burningnear the parrots’ habitat is alsoprohibited. The villagersconserve the birds also becauseof the tourist potential. “Wewant this settlement to be madea tourist attraction inconjunction with thecommunity,” says Chief Aleme.“If we have a road, water andlight, those who want to seethese birds can come easily inand out and see them.”

Nigeria has a 14 year old lawwhich prohibits poaching ortrading in endangered species.But so far no one has beensuccessfully prosecuted underthe law which prescribes six-month sentence without optionof fine if caught. While callingfor immediate governmentintervention, ERA recently calledfor the use of forest guards intothe parrots abode, prosecutionof poachers responsible for therecent killing of Ikodi youths,and enforcement of the law onendangered wildlife.

In addition ERA “calls forinternational pressure on theNigerian government to takesteps to live up to itscommitment as a CITESsignatory”.Gail Buhl fundraising for WPT at Minnesota Zoo.


An African Grey Parrot

18 ■ PsittaScene Volume 11, No 4, November1999

Letterfrom TOM MARSHALL, Leesburg,to Joanna Eckles WPT USAI just received my renewal noticeyesterday and decided aftermuch thought to “bite the bullet”and renew as a Life Member. Icertainly support the goals andprograms of WPT and I think itmakes sense to make this typeof commitment at this time.This decision has a great deal todo with the long time respect andadmiration I have had for Editorand Board Member, RosemaryLow. I think that Rosemary Low,more than any other individual,has had the largest singleimpact on the practice ofaviculture and the growingconcern for the conservation ofparrots in the wild.I was ‘hooked’ on breedingparrots and their conservationafter first hearing Rosemary Lowspeak on endangered Amazonparrots at the AFAConvention inSan Diego, California in August,1981 and after reading herEndangered Parrots, publishedin 1984.The work of Charlie Munn, CarlJones and Paul Butler, et. al.with World Parrot Trustassociation has sold me on thejob WPT is doing. In addition, Ienjoy reading WPT’saccomplishments in thePsittaScene and I am in completeagreement with the philosophybehind the creation of ‘AManifesto for Aviculture’.In the United States, I believe‘responsible aviculture’ is, inpart, supporting the AmericanFederation of Aviculture

(legislation), World Parrot Trust(conservation) and the PsittacineResearch Project, Univ. of CA atDavis (research), and learning allI can about the two pairs ofWhite-bellied and two pairs ofBlack-headed Caiques I keep asbreeders, companions and asprototypes of all 300+ species ofparrots in the world.Sincerely, Tom Marshall

Volunteer workrequestedEighteen year old Sarah Gaskinis keen to take part in a parrotconservation project before shestarts university in October nextyear. She would like ‘front line’experience. In addition toparrots, she is interested inrainforest ecology. Anyone whocan offer her work is invited tocontact her at 25 GranvilleStreet, Market Harborough,Leicestershire, LE16 9EU, UK.

The AviculturalMagazineEdited by Malcolm Ellis, coversthe keeping and breeding of awide range of birds including, ofcourse, parrots. It is publishedfour times a year by theAvicultural Society, which has aworldwide membership thatincludes most of the topaviculturists (a name for birdkeepers coined by the firsteditors of the magazine back in1894). Subscribers also includethe leading zoos, bird gardens,conservation organisations andresearch institutes.A recent issue included accounts

Book Reviewby ROSEMARY LOW

Arinos big journey – by LarsLepperhoff and RosmarieWüthrich

What better way could there beto foster an interest in parrotsamong children than by creatingthe character of Arinos, a Blueand Yellow Macaw, and makinghim the subject of a children’sstory book? Our Swissrepresentative, Lars Lepperhoff,

aviculturist and macaw breeder, has done just that. Alas! thebook is in German - so only German speakers will benefit.Nevertheless it is a real benefit for no similar type of book exists

in the German language.It tells the story of a macaw who was hand-reared by Indians andsold to a dealer. The Indians needed the money because thedestruction of the rainforest had left them impoverished. Arinoswas exported to Europe and ended up in a pet shop - asthousands of his kind had done before him. One day a familyvisited the shop and the son called Peter persuaded his parentsto buy Arinos.It was not long before his new family realised that Arinos wasbored and lacking in stimulation. They built a big aviary in theirgarden and bought a mate for Arinos. At last the macaw wascontented - but he had suffered a lot on his journey from therainforests. The moral is there: only buy captive-bred parrots.With its imaginative and colourful pictures on every other page,this book will give pleasure and a first hint of environmentalissues such as deforestation.Arinos Grosse Reise (ISBN 3 85580 393 5) is published byBlaukreuz Verlag Bern. It costs Sfr 25/DM 26.50.

CORNWALL Family Attraction of the YearHAYLE SW5537 Paradise Park Plenty for families at this colourfulplace, the headquarters of the World Parrot Trust. Since the park firstopened in 1973 they’ve successfully bred over 200 species of birds fromall over the world. Some of the beautiful current residents are showcasedto spectacular effect in the huge Parrot Jungle, a splendid mix of waterfalls,swamps and streams, and in their daily free-flying show (usually at12.30pm). Star of the show is Sam the Cockatoo, who’s been trained tocollect coins from volunteers and pop them into a collecting box for thecharity. For another splendid show, try feeding some parrots in the newAustralian aviary - 40 rainbow lorikeets swoop down for the nectar thatyou can buy for 50p at the shop. As well as rare and exotic birds they havelots of animals, including their own otter sanctuary with entertainingfeeding times twice a day; they usually pick out volunteers to help, and ifit’s your child’s birthday you can usually fix it in advance so their name willbe called out. Other highlights include penguin feeding shows, and a dailydisplay of eagles, owls and falcons. Times for these are displayed at theentrance, or you can find them in advance on the park’s information line.More animals to feed at the Fun Farm, though they limit sales of feed sothat the animals don’t stuff their faces all day. There’s a big adventure playarea decked out as a mock fort, with an adjacent picnic area, and quiztrails with badges as a prize at the end. Adults may prefer the Victorianwalled garden (lovely clematis arches in May) or the pub that brews itsown real ale, and there’s a narrow-gauge railway rattling gently throughthe grounds. Though there’s a good deal of shelter, this isn’t reallysomewhere to come on a wet day. Meals, snacks, shop (and plant sales),mostly disabled access; open every day; (01736) 751020; £5.99 (£3.99children 4-14). You can usually get good-value return tickets.

of breeding the Bearded Barbet,a trip to see the Bali Starling,hand-rearing a Superb FruitDove at London Zoo and thehusbandry and breeding of thePapuan Mountain Pigeon atVogelpark Walsrode. While forparrot enthusiasts there havebeen articles on breeding theWhiskered Lorikeet, the biologyand husbandry of the Purple-bellied Parrot, and captivebreeding programmes for theRed-browed Amazon. No. 4,1999 will be devoted largely to areview of parrots bred in zoos inthe USA, and will include lists ofall the species bred, thenumbers and the zoos in whichthey were bred.The Membership Secretary is

Stewart Pyper, 21 Primrose Hill,Nunney, Frome, Somerset BA114NP, England. UK membership is£18 per year, and overseasmembership £21, in sterling.

Honour forParadise ParkThe prestigious ‘GOOD BRITAINGUIDE 2000’ has chosenParadise Park (home of TheWorld Parrot Trust) as ‘FamilyAttraction of the Year 2000’for the County of Cornwall. Thisis the UK equivalent of Floridain tourism terms, and means thepark has beaten over 300competing attractions.

Here is what they said:

To See and Do

WPT NATIONAL CONTACTSUnited KingdomKaren Allmann, Administrator,Glanmor House, Hayle, Cornwall TR27 4HBNew Nos: Tel: (44) 01736 751026 Fax: (44) 01736 751028email: [email protected] Reynolds email: [email protected]

USAJoanna Eckles, PO Box 50733, St. Paul, MN 55150Tel: 651 994 2581 Fax: 651 994 2580Email: [email protected]

BeneluxPeter de Vries (Membership Sec.), Jagershof 91,7064 DG Silvolde, NetherlandsTel: (31) 315327418 email: [email protected] enquiries: Romain Bejstrup (32) 32526773Netherlands enquiries: Ruud Vonk (31) 168472715

CanadaMike Pearson, PO Box 29, Mount Hope,Ontario L0R 1W0Tel: (1) 905 385 9500 Fax: (1) 905 385 7374email: [email protected]

Denmark (Scandinavia)Michael Iversen, Hyldevang 4 – Buresoe,3550 Slangerupemail: [email protected]

FranceJ. & G. Prin, 55 Rue de la Fassiere, 45140, Ingre.Tel: (33) 2 38 43 62 87 Fax: (33) 2 38 43 97 18

SwitzerlandLars Lepperhoff, Lutschenstrasse 15, 3063 IttigenTel: (41) 31 922 3902

GermanyRepresentative needed –Call WPT-UK

ItalyFreddie Virili, via Matarus 10, 33045 Nimis, Udine.Cristiana Senni, email: [email protected]

AustraliaMike Owen, 7 Monteray St., Mooloolaba,Queensland 4557.Tel: (61) 7 54780454 email: [email protected]

AfricaV. Dennison, PO Box 1758, Link Hills,Natal 3652, S. AfricaTel: (27) 31 763 4054 Fax: (27) 31 763 3811

SpainAndrés Marin and Ana Matesanz,C/La Majadita no 16 Guinate, Maquez,35541 Las Palmas, SpainTel: (34) 928 835745 email: [email protected]

WPT Web Sites:Central: http://www.worldparrottrust.orgCanada: http://www.worldchat.com/parrot/cwparrot.htmItaly: http://www.mediavillage.it/wptDenmark: http://www.image.dk/fpewpt

Working for ParrotConservation andWelfare Worldwide

The World Parrot Trust was founded in 1989 as UK Registered CharityNo. 800944. International expansion has been rapid and the Trust nowhas linked charities and support groups in Africa, Australia, Belgium,Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, Switzerlandand the USA.

Funds raised for the parrots have now reached £1,000,000 ($1.6M) andhave been used to initiate and support conservation and welfareprojects in 20 countries for 37 species of parrot. Despite this wide-ranging activity, the Trust is run on a volunteer basis, with only two parttime administrators worldwide. This uniquely cost-effective approach ismade possible by substantial financial and logistical support donated byParadise Park, the UK home base of the World Parrot Trust.

The objective of the Trust is to promote the survival of all parrot speciesand the welfare of individual birds. It pursues these aims by fundingfield conservation work, research projects and educational programmes.The Trust seeks to promote the concept of ‘responsible aviculture’ wherethe interests of the parrots themselves are given priority overcommercial, political, career or other human concerns. The World ParrotTrust and its members wish to be recognised as the ‘True Friends of the

Parrots’, and to win over the majority of aviculturists, pet owners andscientists to its point of view. The task is huge – our resources arelimited. We need the commitment of everyone in the ‘parrot community’:those who keep, breed, study and protect the parrots. Beyond thosespecial interests, we look for support from everyone who understandsthe crisis facing the world through the loss of biodiversity. We aim tocontinue using the special charm of the parrots to win the hearts andminds of thoughtful people everywhere.Michael ReynoldsFounder and Hon. DirectorWorld Parrot Trust

Mike Reynolds meets ‘Pablo’,a hand-reared Echo Parakeetreleased to join criticallyendangered wild Echoes inMauritius.

Join usIf not already a member, please join. Receive our PsittaScenenewsletter, know that you are actively contributing towards ouraims and projects.

Help fund our ProjectsWe are currently supporting parrot conservation, education andwelfare projects in 20 countries. Your generosity towards theparrots could help us expand current schemes and start newones.

Aims of the TrustThe survival of parrot species in the wild, and the welfare ofcaptive birds.These aims are pursued by:Educating the public on the threats to parrots.Opposing trade in wild-caught parrots.Preserving and restoring parrot habitat.Studying the status of parrot populations.Encouraging the production of aviary-bred birds.Creating links between aviculture and conservation.Promoting high standards in the keeping of parrots.Supporting research into veterinary care of parrots.

YES, I WANT TO HELP SAVE THEPARROTS OF THE WORLDSUBSCRIPTION RATES (please tick)

UK and Europe (Single) £15

UK and Europe (Family) £20

Fellow (Life Member) £250/US$400Corporate (Annual)

All overseas Airmail £17/US$25(or equivalent currency, paymentby Visa/Mastercard preferred)

Plus donation of £/US$ .........................

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Or join us on our website: www.worldparrottrust.org


Parrotsin the Wild

Printed by Brewers of Helston Ltd. Tel: 01326 558000

Meyer’s ParrotPoicephalus meyeri

by LOUISE WARBURTONMeyer’s or Brown Parrots are Africa’s most widely distributed parrotspecies. They are found in six geographical variations, rangingacross Central Africa, south to the northern tip of South Africa. Therace found in Zambia is the Poicephalus meyeri transvaalensis.Observations showed there to be considerable colour variationbetween individuals, some having a yellow crown, others with verylittle yellow at all.The Meyer’s in the photograph were seen coming to drink in Katue

National Park, Zambia, in late September. The drinking flockeventually numbered eight, and they were joined by Long-tailedStarlings and Black-cheeked Lovebirds. In the Nanzhila region Meyer’sparrots were commonly observed, usually in flocks of 4 or 6 birdscalling noisily as they flew between feeding trees or to water. Theywere found across all the regional habitat types which coveredgrassland plain, miombo, mopane and riparian vegetation and wereoften observed feeding on the sausage fruit of the Kigella africanatree, Combretum seeds and Julbernadia pods. Local people reportthat flocks of over 40 Meyer’s visiting their maize fields at crop-ripening is not uncommon. Little is known about their ecology in thewild; it would certainly be very interesting to study the factorsbehind this species’ success.

Listed as a CITES II species, Meyer’s Parrot is not considered to beglobally threatened, although numbers in northern South Africa andparts of Zimbabwe have been considerably reduced by habitatdestruction.

world parrot trust in action vol. 11 no.4 november 1999

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