Summer 2018 Summer 2018 CONTENTS
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Magazine of the Summer 2018 Summer 2018 CONTENTS Message from the Editor 5 4 Desi Milpacher Glanmor House, Hayle Cornwall TR27 4HB UK Yellow-crested Cockatoo [email protected] +44 (0)1736 751026 5 A hopeful trend in a significant population www.parrots.org Arranging Antecedents 10 A positive approach to solving behaviour problems ABOUT THE WPT Capture for the live-bird trade, habitat Soaring the Skies Once Again loss and other factors put wild parrots at risk. One in three parrot species are 12 Encouraging results in the reintroduction of Scarlet currently threatened in the wild. Macaws to Los Tuxtlas Reserve, Mexico As an international leader in parrot conservation and welfare, the World Parrot Trust works with researchers, Ecotourism in-country organisations, communities 18 Responsible travel supporting conservation and governments to encourage effective solutions that save parrots. PsittaNews Since 1989 the WPT has grown to become a global force that moves 22 Parrot News and Updates quickly to address urgent issues and WPT Contacts support long-term projects for parrots. 10 WPT has led projects in 42 countries for 67 species of parrot. Parrots in the Wild 24 Scarlet Macaws CHARITY INFORMATION United Kingdom: # 800944 12 United States: EIN 62-1561595 Canada: BN 89004 1171 RR0001 Printed on post-consumer recycled paper. ON THE COVER Hyacinth Macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) examine a tree cavity in the Pantanal, Brazil. The pair was seen during a Wild Parrots Up Close ecotour expedition. Photo © Corey Raffel Community-based ecotourism companies have become a more Editor: Desi Milpacher Layout, Design & Production: Michelle Kooistra responsible way to travel, by providing income and incentive Fulfillment: Karen Whitley for local people to conserve their wildlife. The World Parrot Trust does not necessarily endorse Read more about parrots and ecotourism on Page 18: any views or statements made by contributors to PsittaScene. It will consider articles or letters from Ecotourism: Responsible travel supporting conservation. any contributors on their merits. Visit parrots.org/ psittascene for Guidelines. Anyone wishing to reprint PsittaScene articles in full or in part needs permission from WPT and the author/photographer(s) and must state that it was copied from PsittaScene. All contents © World Parrot Trust Printed by Complete Business Solutions, Helston Tel: 01326 563424 Summer 2018 PsittaScene.org 3 | Editorial Leave a Legacy Yellow-crested Cockatoo: A hopeful trend in a significant population From... | AdobeStock © Pakhnyushchy The critically endangered Yellow-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) is one the Editor’s desk of the world’s rarest parrots. Their global population, having been decimated by In this issue, we celebrate the successes that a heavy trapping in the 1970s number of in-country organisations have had with the restoration of parrots to their native and 1980s, is fewer than ranges. We’ve supported a lot of these projects 2000 individuals. watching, with great joy, the released birds begin to act like their normal selves again by International foraging, flying, socialising and breeding. trade records show that over 190,000 We also see that there are reasons to be Yellow-crested encouraged for some of the most endangered Cockatoos were wild parrots – Yellow-crested Cockatoos, in reported taken from this case – and find that there are populations Indonesia between that are reasonably stable, and with proper 1981 and 1992, with many protection they can remain so. We explore the more dying before reaching idea of responsible ecotourism as a sustainable intended markets. way of encouraging in-country conservation, as seen through the lens of a longtime WPT Today, they are extinct on friend. And we learn that our closest parrot many of the islands where companions can be guided into behaving in less destructive ways through a positive switch in they once occurred and are their living environment. uncommon on others. In addition to chronic trapping pressure, these With you, our steadfast supporters, the WPT cockatoos are affected by ongoing has been able to assist with these projects and habitat loss. Nearly three-quarters of the see the promising results in many of them. country’s original forest has been lost to Read on, and see the tremendous good your large-scale logging and agriculture. contributions have done. The news is not all gloomy: Although the species as a whole has suffered tremendous loss, there are signs of small increases on a number of islands. What will be your legacy? Desi Milpacher, WPT Publications Editor Let your dedication to parrots live on! Leaving a legacy gift to the parrots through your estate may be one of the most ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY: fulfilling contributions you will ever make. Oka Dwi Prihatmoko, DVM, WPT Indonesia Program Coordinator Mehd Halaouate, WPT Indonesia Program Manager Visit our website at parrots.org/legacy or contact an office near you (see page 23.) 4 PsittaScene.org Summer 2018 Summer 2018 PsittaScene.org 5 E HAVE BEEN CONDUCTING a tiny islet just north of Sumbawa in 145 in the province of West Nusa Wsurveys and doing fieldwork West Nusa Tenggara province. We Tenggara. Additionally, because for the Yellow-crested Cockatoo usually don’t get our hopes up until illegal poaching of Yellow-crested Yellow-crested Cockatoos observed during a search at Kokar Turu for many years now. Assessing the we assess the populations ourselves, Cockatoos is still believed to be remaining population of these birds but it was potentially good news as occurring, we planned educational has been a challenge, as some of we thought that trapping had all but outreach efforts in selected villages the subspecies still survive on wiped out the species on this island. likely to have some level of Once we finally arrived on Moyo, Counting cockatoos and uplisting to CITES Appendix I remote islands off the beaten trapping activity on Moyo and we began surveying the area with a learning about trapping in 2005. Unfortunately, illegal track, which are a bit tricky and The presence of other parrots like Sumbawa Islands. couple of experienced local guides dangerous to get to. Forsten’s Lorikeets (Trichoglossus trapping still occurs. In the field, who had counted the cockatoos We recorded a minimum of 95 forsteni) from Sumbawa in the we found evidence - a nest tree before with BKSDA. Yellow-crested Cockatoos, with the From field reports we knew that birdmarkets in Bali and Java with a telltale ladder pattern on “Getting to Sumbawa was largest group (76 birds) living on its trunk, and on a large branch a there should be more populations suggested that trapping was still challenging - Bali and Lombok We conducted surveys with two the western part of the island. An of this species somewhere that we commonplace. These lorikeets have leftover root and hook assembly airports were closed because teams, one working from a boat additional 19 birds were counted was hanging close to the tree’s hadn’t found yet. We also knew been offered for sale for as little as to identify birds in trees within on the southern and southeastern that the largest numbers, 695 birds, $19 USD. Cockatoos fetch a higher Mount Agung, on the island of cavity. The area around the base 100 metres of the shore, and a portions of the island. The of the tree was cleared of brush are of the parvula subspecies on price, between $120-$230 USD, so Bali, was violently erupting. second trekking team that would numbers between 2016 and Komodo and Rinca islands. This trappers will not miss a chance to and small trees, and the ground So I took my motorbike, using enter the forest looking for 2017 showed that the population was dotted with discarded paper group has benefitted a great deal catch a few and make more money. roosting and nesting sites. on Moyo is relatively stable, a from the government protection the ferry to get from Bali to commonly used for rice wraps, the vast improvement from a 1999 remains of a poacher’s lunch. that the Komodo Dragon (Varanus The plan for our 2017 trip was to Lombok and from there to The two teams stayed in contact survey conducted by BirdLife komodoensis) has been granted, as re-survey Moyo Island to compare Sumbawa. It took an entire with handheld radios. There are international that found just Later, we interviewed a honey well as from a national ban on with the count carried out by day and night to get there.” no paved roads on Moyo Island, 10 birds. hunter who lived on the island. trapping the cockatoos themselves. Indonesia’s Nature Conservation so the land-based team relied He told us that in addition to Agency (BKSDA). In 2016 they primarily on existing trails and The increase to just over 100 birds searching for the sticky-sweet prize In 2016 we received news that found 115 birds on Moyo Island ~ Oka dirt roads for access, and cleared now, 18 years later, is probably a he had also once taken cockatoo there were still a few Yellow-crested and 30 birds on Sumbawa Island, thick brush to get to suspected result of the protections granted chicks to give to relatives on the Cockatoos surviving on Moyo, for a minimum total population of nests and roosts. this species in 1993 and its Sumbawa mainland. 6 PsittaScene.org Summer 2018 Summer 2018 PsittaScene.org 7 He also said that other honey by budget shortfalls, the forestry schools of two villages, Limung and gatherers sometimes saw the department urgently needed backing Marente, on Sumbawa. In Marente cockatoos in nests deep in the for more programs to directly village, near Jerewah Nature forest. That led us to believe that protect the cockatoos. They had Sanctuary, there are still small they might become trappers as well.