Spix's Macaw news

Carl, one would certainly hope so!

Another question: how effective would Spix's macaw be to find mates long distance?
 
The Spix Macaw has generated an extensive literature although most of what we know about the bird in the wild is based on hearsay and misinformation, and only a small amount of good field data. It is assumed that it requires caraiba gallery woodland and it is suggested that its original range was a 50km wide belt of 150-200 km stretch of the rio Sao Francisco. However this is based upon a great deal of speculation, and in part, on the habitat preferences of the wild population, that was not found until the 1980's, when only three birds remained.

There is the danger of falling into the common trap of considering the last place a species is found is its optimum habitat when in reality it is often just where the last individuals cling on.

It could well be that the Spix Macaw has much broader habitat tolerances than many believe, and have been attracted to the gallery forests for breeding, since this is where the large trees with hollows exist.

The appearance of a wild bird after all these years is, provided it is a genuine wild bird which many now believe it to be, clear evidence that there are, or have been, undetected bird(s).

Its morphology suggests it has evolved for long-distance flight, and we know that the single wild bird known in 1990 was flying around 20 km a day. So it is likely this species was nomadic and may have regularly travelled over large areas. This is of course speculation on my part, and someone needs to do a proper morphological analysis of the Spix Macaw, comparing it with other species of conures and macaws to look at ecological correlates.

Of course if there are birds surviving in the wild we can only suggest that they will be attracted to suitable areas, and being they travel long distances they will hopefully find each other.
 
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DesertRhino150 said:
The first eight Spix's macaws have now been released into the wild, with another twelve due to follow later in the year.

More information can be found in the link below:
Spix's Macaw returns to wild - BirdGuides
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The question is, are there monitoring systems in place to keep an eye on the birds? Given the locale vicinity has been made public as well as photos of the conditioning aviaries, it wouldn't be too hard for people to start picking off birds. If macaws start getting picked off illegally the last thing that needs to happen is further releases.
 
Great Argus said:
The question is, are there monitoring systems in place to keep an eye on the birds? Given the locale vicinity has been made public as well as photos of the conditioning aviaries, it wouldn't be too hard for people to start picking off birds. If macaws start getting picked off illegally the last thing that needs to happen is further releases.
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Well now would probably be the hardest time to sell a Spix under the radar, I wonder if the macaws are chipped ?

From what I’ve heard and read, many of the birds only reproduced thanks to artificial insemination, so I wonder how successful the reintroduction program is going to be.
 
Rayane said:
Well now would probably be the hardest time to sell a Spix under the radar, I wonder if the macaws are chipped ?
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Hard to sell once they reach a point they have a chance of getting inspected and spotted, but how many might die before they reach that point? Smuggled birds have a notoriously low survival rate after getting mistreatment of all sorts. What market remains that might be tempting enough to attempt snagging the macaws? Even very eagle-eyed countries still suffer from it - from time to time there's stories of Ecuador busting people with tortoises or iguanas coming off the Galapagos, and the recent scandal of ACTP and Australia. Hopefully the Spix is high profile enough they will not be an attractive target again for smuggling, but it is hard to say...
 
Great Argus said:
Hard to sell once they reach a point they have a chance of getting inspected and spotted, but how many might die before they reach that point? Smuggled birds have a notoriously low survival rate after getting mistreatment of all sorts. What market remains that might be tempting enough to attempt snagging the macaws? Even very eagle-eyed countries still suffer from it - from time to time there's stories of Ecuador busting people with tortoises or iguanas coming off the Galapagos, and the recent scandal of ACTP and Australia. Hopefully the Spix is high profile enough they will not be an attractive target again for smuggling, but it is hard to say...
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I was told Spix’s are worth 250 000€ for a couple, not sure on what market if there is any but indeed that’s more than enough for people to be interested in smuggling them. However I assume the program took this parameter in consideration and are monitoring the birds well enough to reduce this eventuality?

The ACTP scandal had no smuggle involved as far as I know, it was just dubious paperwork and obvious corruption but most bird imported if not all were captive bred
 
Rayane said:
I was told Spix’s are worth 250 000€ for a couple, not sure on what market if there is any but indeed that’s more than enough for people to be interested in smuggling them. However I assume the program took this parameter in consideration and are monitoring the birds well enough to reduce this eventuality?
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Yikes, definitely incentive if the market exists, and sadly I'm sure it does somewhere. This would be my assumption as well, but I brought it up as I have yet to see mention of such a system in the articles. When reintroducing such a rare and potentially targetable species I should hope they have considered this well.

Rayane said:
The ACTP scandal had no smuggle involved as far as I know, it was just dubious paperwork and obvious corruption but most bird imported if not all were captive bred
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That's good.
 
Rayane said:
The ACTP scandal had no smuggle involved as far as I know, it was just dubious paperwork and obvious corruption but most bird imported if not all were captive bred
Click to expand...

Most of ACPT's birds came from the Al Wabra breeding centre when it closed. All(?) were captive bred. Al Wabra's founder stock in turn mostly originated from a breeder/bird dealer called Dios(?) in the Phillipines. How many of his birds were wild caught I don't know but he was the first person to significantly increase the number in captivity by successful breeding. Al Wabra and then later ACPT both built on that foundation. I believe the last wildcaught individual entered captivity around 1978 and was possibly the previous partner of the last wild male.
 
Pertinax said:
Most of ACPT's birds came from the Al Wabra breeding centre when it closed. All(?) were captive bred. Al Wabra's founder stock in turn mostly originated from a breeder/bird dealer called Dios(?) in the Phillipines. How many of his birds were wild caught I don't know but he was the first person to significantly increase the number in captivity by successful breeding. Al Wabra and then later ACPT both built on that foundation. I believe the last wildcaught individual entered captivity around 1978 and was possibly the previous partner of the last wild male.
Click to expand...

The ACTP scandal was not about the Spix. Some of the macaws came indeed from Dios, owner of Birds International Incorporated, a company based in the Philippines. He is also the first very succesful Fig parrot breeder, and I believe most if not all the Fig parrots we have in Europe came from him.

As far as I know, ACTP imported many birds from Australia, I can't remember if it was 120 or 200, and it was for conservation purposes. However, many of the birds were actually captive bred mutations, which were then sold to privates in Europe.
Every now and then you can find a Zanda latirostris for sale, one might wonder where the parents came from as well...
 
Rayane said:
The ACTP scandal was not about the Spix. Some of the macaws came indeed from Dios, owner of Birds International Incorporated, a company based in the Philippines. He is also the first very succesful Fig parrot breeder, and I believe most if not all the Fig parrots we have in Europe came from him.

As far as I know, ACTP imported many birds from Australia, I can't remember if it was 120 or 200, and it was for conservation purposes. However, many of the birds were actually captive bred mutations, which were then sold to privates in Europe.
Every now and then you can find a Zanda latirostris for sale, one might wonder where the parents came from as well...
Click to expand...

Yes, I think I got confused here. Sorry for the mix-up. I remember the ACPT scandal now, weren't some rare Australian black cockatoos that they managed to import involved too?
 
Pertinax said:
Yes, I think I got confused here. Sorry for the mix-up. I remember the ACPT scandal now, weren't some rare Australian black cockatoos that they managed to import involved too?
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Yes, that's why you can now find for example Carnaby's black cockatoos (Zanda latirostris) for sale sometimes. Although that's what I was sold a few times, I can't say I've seen any for sale myself.
 
And now the project and another good historical overview Till the present.
Please note the plan is to release larger groups of Spix's macaws and also with Illiger's macaws that know the habitat. This is in the expectancy that the macaws will work as a group, there is safety in numbers and survive better over time in the wild after release and provide the birds with plenty of opportunities to choose their own partner (remember the Anodorhynchus macaws are choosy on partners.

Source:
Two decades after it vanished, the stunning Spix’s macaw returns to its forest home
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
And now the project and another good historical overview Till the present.
Please note the plan is to release larger groups of Spix's macaws and also with Illiger's macaws that know the habitat. This is in the expectancy that the macaws will work as a group, there is safety in numbers and survive better over time in the wild after release and provide the birds with plenty of opportunities to choose their own partner (remember the Anodorhynchus macaws are choosy on partners.

Source:
Two decades after it vanished, the stunning Spix’s macaw returns to its forest home
Click to expand...

Safety in numbers but a very small founder population, was it 12 birds or even less?
Small genetic pool, good breeding success at the beginning and then everything stops out of nowhere, that’s why some breeding species are now disappearing from zoos.
And I’m not even sure the natural breeding of those Spix was that good, I believe they had to artificially inseminate a good number of birds over the years, but that’s only what I heard, I have not read anything about it.
 
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