Marsh Farms INCUBATORS • FEATURING fully automatic Some Endangered Parrots turners. Adjustable temperature and humidity control. And The Role Aviculture Could Play In Their Survival by Tony Silva, Curator Loro Parque, Puerto de la Cruz Tenerife, Canary Islands The epitomy of endangered parrots locality not distant from the Sao Fran­ ROLL-X is a blue and grey macaw referred to cisco River where the type speci­ Up to 209 eggs. as Ararinha do spixi where it is men was collected. native. Ornithologists call this bird Several points highlight the history Cyanopsitta spixii and aviculturists of this macaw. Almost all sightings know it as Spix's Macaw, a species have been made in the same locality; which has no close relatives and with one exception, the person mak­ which is the only representative ofits ing the observations have been Ger­ genus. It has always been rare and at man speaking ornithologists; and the present is known from a single wild decline has been the result of trapp­ bird, a remnant of a population that ing, followed by habitat degradation, Up to 480 once comprised some 30 pairs. hunting and the introduction of the Egg Capacity. There are some 21 specimens in African honey bee, in that order. That captivity, and these offfer the only trapping has been the most destruc­ hope for saving this species from tive force is highlighted by the fact extinction. that 15 months after Roth discovered The decline ofCyanopsitta spixii is the Cura~a population, only one bird important, for it has occurred rela­ remained; the other two had been tively qUickly and aviculturists are collected by a dealer living in Petrol­ mainly to blame. The species was ina, in whose hands one died - the first collected by Johannes Baptist survivor is believed to have been sent von Spix, a German ornithologist out ofBrazil. who traveled throughout the north of Brazil for three years from 1817 on All ofthe recent interest in Cyanop­ behalf of the Bavarian Museum. Near sitta spixii is due to a seizure made Jauzeiro, a town on the Sao Francisco by Juan S. Villalba-Madas, a staunch River, his hunters obtained a speci­ conservationist and head of World men. This bird was used in describing Wildlife Fund's TRAFFIC office in in 1832 Psittace spixii, named after Montevideo, Uruguay. On the morn­ von Spix by].G. Wagler. In the early ing of 23 March 1987, with a group 1900s, another German, O. Reiser, of police, he stormed the house of sighted the species near Parnagua, Ernst Koopmann, one of the best MANUFACTURED BY Piaui. No other reports of the species known dealers in South America and were made until 1974 when Helmut a man who at that time had been Sick and Dante Martins Teixeira trading in birds for over 30 years. The ~~Hr:~ sighted five macaws believed to be two nestlings he had were confis­ this species in flight near Formosa cated and returned to Brazil. The 2765 MAIN STREET Dept. W CHULA VISTA, CA 92011 U.S.A. do Rio Preto, northwestern Bahia. resulting publicity sparked the crea­ TELEPHONE: (619) 585-9900 The next observer was Paul Roth, tion of a committee for the recovery who in mid-1986 saw and photo­ of this species by the Brazilian gov­ 'c;;;;;j!~ graphed the last three birds, these ernment. WE ACCEPT 1_O ! occurring in the area of Curaca, a The future of Cyanopsitta spixii is 16 April/May 1992 Judge us by the company we keep USDA • US. Center for Disease Control • Mayo Clinic • Saudi Royal Family Sloan-Kettering Institute· Walt Disney world. Busch Gardens • Opryland Six Flags • Lion Country Safari • US. Army • US. Air Force • VA Hospitals Countless Zoos • Universities and Game Preserves throughout the Free World Write for our free catalog! very insecure but breeding successes in the collection of Antonio de Dios of the Philippines and Josef Ham­ The Humidaire Incubator Company merli in Switzerland, suggest that it Department W, P.O. Box 9, New Madison, OH 45346-0009 may be possible to establish this species in captivity and ultimately (513) 996-3001 • FAX (513) 996-3633 reintroduce it to the wild. Many con­ cessions have been made in order to Serving the world for 61 years try to save this species, the most important relating to the legality issue. The majority of the Spix's Pure, natural, and cleaned ... Macaws have been smuggled out of finest cuttlebone available! Brazil, but the government will con­ small 6"-7" • medium 7"-10" • jumbo 10"-13" • mixed sizes sider them as legal, prOVided their holders agree to join the committee. This committee is made up of hold­ ers of this species, government officials, conservationists and orni­ 5lbs, at $3,90 per lb. =$19,50 thologists. 10 Ibs, at $3,00 per lb. = $30,00 (Minimum All orders prepaid and shipped freight collect order 5 ibs,) The sad case with the Spix's is that aviculture was almost solely respon­ sible for its decline. For many years, We also feature AUlea everyone stated that the main threat lory and Softbill Diets to wild parrot populations was habi­ tat loss; now we are realizing that this & KAYT~~ ct is true in many but not all cases. Like ~9UTRITION the Spix's, the Hyacinthine Macaw o•• Anodo1'hynchus hyacinthinus has NO MESS been affected by excessive trapping. LORY LIFE LORY LIFE NECTAR Ifwe look at the published reports of 3 Ibs. 513.90 • 6lbs. 525.50 3lbs. 535.00 • 6lbs. 567.50 the ornithologists Reiser, Kampfer, Dealer also other softbill diets available. Rehn, Stager and others that predate and With addition of fresh fruits, these are complete diets, the 1960s, all state that the species Breeder SPRAY MILLET 5lbs. - 515,00 CinciudesfreightinUSA) was common. In the late 1970s, Prices SOAK COOK for parrots development in the heretofore Available & inaccessible areas boomed and the CUTTLEBONE PLUS species began to disappear. Simul­ P.O. Box 305, Dept. A, Fallbrook, CA 92028 I VISA I taneously to this, trapping increased, (619) 731-2242 • the birds being sent out from Para­ Dick Schroeder. breeder ofsoftbills, rare lories. and pet parrots guay and later Bolivia; they were exported as endemics but the small Orders Only (800) 747-9878 • FAX (619) 731-0403 afa WATCHIlIRD 17 populations in these two countries very imprinted. This is a problem if The current trend in the U.S. - and I could not support the level of har­ they are to serve as future breeders, must point out that this is not the vesting. It slowly became apparent given that many of the breeding case in Europe - to hybridize that the majority of birds were being behaviors are learned; hand-reared macaws is shameful. The birds which smuggled out of the pantanal, the birds lack the benefit of acquiring are produced exhibit hybrid vigor, seasonally flooded part ofsouthwest­ such knowledge as mating display, which makes them stronger; they ern Brazil. With tighter controls and communication and flock cohesion could, with time, cause the disap­ the species up-listing to CITES from their parents. To re-introduce pearance of the true species. Impos­ Appendix I or endangered, which the species would be impossible sible! you may exclaim. Then let me prevents trade except under very unless the young are parent-reared. ask you this: when was the last time special circumstances, exports came We know from the case with the you saw a pure-bred Fischer's Love­ under stricter control. However, Thick-billed Parrots Rhynchopsitta bird Agapornis fischeri? The birds another gap would soon open: the pachyrhyncha released in Arizona, you keep may look like the wild type, birds would be sent out illegally in that hand-reared birds become dis­ but in ten to one ofthe cases, genetic small numbers directly from Brazil. oriented; they lack even the simplest tests will reveal them to be impure: Stricter enforcement of the law of knowledge of flocking behavior. they will have the blood ofthe Black­ 1967, which was passed by the Braz­ They then become easy targets for masked Lovebird Agapornisperson­ ilian congress in order to stop all predators. You may be thinking that ata flowing through their veins. Just internal and external trade in en­ it is absurd to consider releasing a imagine the damage that would demic wildlife, has largely stopped species back into the wild when the result if these ostensibly pure this flow of birds overseas; but this current population is being slowly Fischer's Lovebirds were released has not meant that trade has ceased trapped out of existence. And for back into the wild! altogether, for now the internal Bra­ thinking this you are right. But I am This trend of hybridiZing reflects zilian market would begin absorbing not suggesting that we return Hya­ very poorly on aviculture. Ifyou visit the birds collected. It is difficult to cinthine Macaws to the wild now, many parts of South America where state with certainty, but several but in the future, when the pres­ the Scarlet, Blue and Gold and Green­ hundred Hyacinthine Macaws are sures which have brought the popu­ Winged Macaws occur, you will see probably sold each year by the illegal lations to a low point, have been them drink and visit mineral deposits bird markets which operate through­ ameliorated. along a river bank together; but you out Brazil. We in aviculture often justify our will never see them interbreed. Each By the time Jorgen Thomsen, existence by claiming that we breed species occupies a distinct niche, Carlos Yamashita and Charles Munn birds in order to save them from feeding on a different food and even began their census in 1987 for the eventual extinction.