Dead birds tested for traces of poison

In the Ecuador wilderness (guides Nelson, at the helm, and Paa), Charles Bergman sought the roots of the illegal animal trade (a blue-headed parrot chick). Photo: Charles BergmanTwo fire-red birds swooped screeching through the forest, flared their yellow and blue wings and alighted on the upright trunk of a dead palm tree. In the green shadows, the scarlet macaws were dazzling; they might as well have been shot from flamethrowers. One slipped into a hole in the tree, then popped its head out and touched beaks with its mate, whose long red tail pressed against the trunk. The birds eyed us suspiciously.
Male Ring-necked parakeetFor one family the icy cold snap has brought a special feathered visitor seeking a homely refuge from the big freeze to their back garden. Housewife Mandy Wright (42) and her family have been looking after a ring-necked parakeet since New Year's Day after the beautiful bird first flew into the garden of their home in Wisteria Road, Yaxley, near Peterborough.
The parakeet - which is the only parrot that in the wild in the UK - was first spotted by Mandy's nine-year-old son Lewis, who saw it from his bedroom window.
Since then, Polly - as she has been named by Lewis and Mandy's three-year-old daughter Ruby - has been a regular feature in their garden, appearing everyday for a morning meal of apples and bird feed.