Spix's Macaw news

jwer said:
Did they manage to incorporate him into the breeding stock, and did you get any information about his ancestry?
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RyanWatson will no doubt have better information, but I don't think 'Presley' has bred according to the recent pedigree of the Spix in captivity which he has posted. I believe he's kept at the Lymington Foundation but don't know if he is paired with a female or not. I think he may be too old/unsuitable for breeding.

I believe he is a wildcaught bird removed from a nest and later(1970's?) smuggled to England where he spent some years before being sent to the USA, where he 'disappeared' again until being rediscovered in the Denver living room.
 
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Pertinax said:
Sounds like a derivation of the story of Presley, the Spix male that was discovered in about 2003 living in a cage in a living room in a Denver(?), Colorado USA suburb.

The 'landing on the doorstep' part is made up as this was a smuggled bird involved in the Pet Trade, though I think his final owner may somehow have obtained the bird without knowing its history or rarity. But the rest of the story is similar to the reality.
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Yup, according to the article, it was indeed 'Presley'. It seems that the bird was a smuggled bird in the illegal pet trade, but it appears that the bird was abandoned on someone's doorstep after 20 years of being someone's pet..... so says the article any way:

World Parrot Trust - Press Kit

In the movie, the bird is caught in the wild and smuggled to America, but its cage falls off the back of a truck in-transit to the pet store and lands on the owner's doorstep.

It's a fun movie with a positive message. Have a look guys!
 
Carlos Saldanha, the director and creator of the animated film "Rio" likes animals and biology. The film does give a positive view of the work of scientists to preserve endangered species. Besides the music by sergio mendes and carlinhos brown is great.
Alas, Rio Zoo does not have Spix´s macaws. The also endangered Lear´s Macaw´s are exhibited in Rio Zoo. Sao Paulo zoo has the Spix´s macaws, but off exhibit. But Sao Paulo is not such a lovely background for a film as Rio de janiero. Also, there is a large rainforest reserve in Rio, as the film shows. It is the beautiful Reserva Natural de Tijuca.
 
nanoboy said:
Yup, according to the article, it was indeed 'Presley'. It seems that the bird was a smuggled bird in the illegal pet trade, but it appears that the bird was abandoned on someone's doorstep after 20 years of being someone's pet..... so says the article any way:
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That's a reliable source. I'd stand corrected about it landing on a doorstep then- it was presumbly dumped there because it was 'too hot' to try and sell and they knew the lady already kept a parrot. Bizarre situation.

I've seen photos of another Spix in the UK (not this bird) that was later sent to form a pair with another one at Walsrode Bird Park in Germany(these birds are dead I think).

There are a couple of excellent videos on Youtube of Spix at both Al Wabra and Loro Parc, the Al Wabra video in particular has excellent footage of some of their birds- very interesting to see the set-ups at both locations.
 
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It seems the pair in Berlin at the ACTP is on a roll. Another young Spix's Macaw hatched there.
 
I just received the news that the ACTP asked it's Spix's Macaws that are on breeding loan in Tenerife back. As far as I know there one male and they also have a male on breeding loan at Al-Wabra. I m not sure if ACTP requested this one back as well). As far as I could see neither males had offspring yet. They also had a male in Brazil but this one returned to Berlin a while ago and already produced 3 offspring again.
 
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It appears that AWWP have bred another five chicks this year (2012), a better result than last year, when only one was hatched/raised.
 
ryanwatson said:
In the second half of 2011 AWWP will establish a breeding facility for Spix's macaws in Brazil and will send birds from Qatar to stock it in 2012.
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Is there any news about what is happening in this respect for the Spix Macaw recovery programme?
 
There was a paper published by Ryan Watson together with Sven Hammer in Zoologische Garten this year. It gives a very good overview on where the programme is right now. It also shows how impressive their efforts are.
 
07 March 2013 [ Thursday ] -- SINGAPORE TIME

Dear Pertinax and DDcorvus

Thanks for the very important infos. provided. Anyone knows of the Spix's situation in those private hands in Switzerland ? ?

Rgds.
 
Walsrode Birdpark send it's last remaining male around 1990 back to Brazil to be paired up with a brazilian female. Because I myself took care of this bird I'm very intrested to know about the where-abouts of this bird. Did it stay in Brazil ( which would mean that it didn't breed because sofar no Brazilian breeding-results - as far as I know ) or was it send to yet another collection ( Loro Parqo AWWP ?? ) and did bred ? Is he still alive ?
Hope some-one know more about him a can give me the information !
 
All Spix's macaws at the Loro Parque will be moved to the ACTP in Germany and to Brasil. No reason has been announced or will be announced. I hope the husbandry in Brasil has been improved and they will actually start breeding with the birds. In any way not a good development for the programme.
 
DDcorvus said:
All Spix's macaws at the Loro Parque will be moved to the ACTP in Germany and to Brasil. No reason has been announced or will be announced. I hope the husbandry in Brasil has been improved and they will actually start breeding with the birds. In any way not a good development for the programme.
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Oh dear. Any idea of when this will happen?
 
The ones to the ACTP left already. The ones that go to Brasil will travel soon, but I don't know how soon.
 
07 March 2013 - SINGAPORE TIME

Dear Vogel Commando

Mr Tony Pittman informed us the followings :-

What's new on the Blue Macaws website??

Vogelpark Walsrode places Spix

News on -- Thursday 21 Feb 2013

Website editor: Pelé was sent to Walsrode by British veterinarian George Smith. Then he

was called Bobby. George Smith had acquired him from a well-known British bird dealer -

the same one who shipped the Spix's Macaw now called Presley to the USA - in the 1970s.

I saw Bobby/Pelé when I visited Walsrode in the 1980s. I next saw him when I visited

Nelson Kawall, the well-known Brazilian aviculturist, in São Paulo in the summer of 1991.

I took several photos of the pair in their rather sparse aviary. As far as I am aware they never

bred and are now long dead.

Photo 1
http://www.bluemacaws.org/Pele and Pic-pic.jpg

Photo 2
http://www.bluemacaws.org/pele.jpg


Photos - Courtesy of Blue Macaws


 
I believe the male Bobby/Pele that went from Yorkshire to Walsrode had a slightly crippled leg or foot?

Also I notice in 'photo 1' in the above post of the pair on the wire of the Aviary in Brazil, that the topmost bird looks in far better feather condition than the lower one. I wonder which bird is which?
 
The Spix from Germany arrived about 2 weeks ago and where placed at Lymington where all other "brazilian" birds where already.

Loro Parque birds also will be moved there...the reason is not clear yet, since nobody talks about, so all government owned birds will be at home and no husbandry have not developed that much.

Al Wabra is also supporting a facility here (private one) and some birds from there will be coming to Brazil in the next couple of years...
 
07 March 2013 -- SINGAPORE TIME

Dear Pertinex

Mr Tony Pittman informed us the followings: -

Wednesday, 9th June 2009

Some more good news. I've heard that in addition to the three Spix's Macaws bred at Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation in Qatar - mentioned below on 29th April 2009 - they successfully hatched two more. Congratulations to Sven, Ryan and the rest of the team.

I have also been sent a photo by Barry Kyme of the Spix's Macaw owned by George Smith in the 1970s. It was taken by his late father, R.T.Kyme, in 1976. Barry says it shared an aviary with a Yellow-eared Conure and was called Bobby. According to George Smith in a report he wrote in 1990, which was unpublished until I put it on this website last year, his Spix's Macaw was sent to Walsrode in 1980 to pair with a Spix's Macaw there. It apparently died in 1989. Horst Müller photographed a pair at Walsrode in 1985. George's macaw must be one of this pair. The other macaw, called Pele, was sent to Brazil in 1990 or 1991, where it died in 1994 or 1995 without reproducing.

Photo 1

http://www.bluemacaws.org/SPIX MACAW G A SMITH CIRCA 1976 001 (2).jpg

Photo 2

http://www.bluemacaws.org/Spixara_Walsrode_Mueller_1985.jpg

ADDITIONAL TEXT

The Spix's Macaw

-- End of Report --

Dear Pertinex

Dr George A Smith acquired the male Spix's in 1975 for just £350 and did mentioned that it was imported from Portugal but unfortunately the male specimen was "tethered" on one of its leg.

So I think the lower bird may be the male ?

You may have to ask Mr Tony Pittman personally about this for verification.


 
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