New Reserve and Nest Box Success Offer Hope for Eventual Reintroduction of Endangered Thick-billed Parrots to the U.S.

One of 20 nest boxes placed in large trees to compensate for the lack of nest trees. Photo: Alfonso Banda, Pronatura Noreste(Washington, D.C.) A project to boost the population of the endangered Thick-billed Parrot in Mexico by creating protected reserves to conserve habitat and providing nest boxes to increase reproduction may make it possible for the species to be once again found in the United States. In September, American Bird Conservancy worked with its Mexican partner group Pronatura Noreste to support the acquisition of 2,470 acres of vital old-growth nesting habitat at Mesa de las Guacamayas in northwestern Mexico, one of three primary nesting areas remaining.

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First Protected Area Established for Critically Endangered Blue-throated Macaw

lue-throated Macaws (Ara glaucogularis) at Chester Zoo. Photo: David FrielAsociación Armonía (BirdLife in Bolivia), with the support of American Bird Conservancy and World Land Trust-US, has created the world's first protected area for the Critically Endangered Blue-throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis), a species with an estimated global population of 300 individuals. The group purchased a 3,555 hectare ranch in the grasslands of eastern Bolivia, a site with 20 Blue-throated Macaws during the breeding season.

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Feathers fly as bird watching takes off

Rascals: Prof David Watson will work on a $1.4 million project to find out just how much damage birds such as this sulphur-crested cockatoo, cause. They may be pretty, but at certain times of the year native parrots can be a major pest for Australian fruit and nut growers.

They cause up to $300 million damage each year, according to estimates by the Bureau of Rural Sciences.

A new, three-year $1.4 million project aims to find out just how much damage birds cause, why, and how it can be minimised.

Charles Sturt University ecologists began last month by conducting a bird monitoring course for workers at Select Harvests almond orchards near Boundary Bend, in northwest Victoria.

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Together with local communities, PROFAUNA campaigns on parrot protection in Manokwari, West Papua

ProFauna Campaigns on Parrot Protection in Manokwari, West PapuanThousands of parrots  are caught from the wild in Papu and North Malukuto supply  domestic and international illegal wildlife trade. In the 2001-2002 Flying without Wings report, the Indonesian wildlife protection NGO, ProFauna Indonesia (www.profauna.org), revealed evidence that an average of  15,000 parrots were caught from the wild to supply the pet markets. Among the parrots poached from the wild in West Papua are black-capped Lories (Lorius lorry), sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita), Eclectus parrots (Eclectus roratus), and rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglosus haematodus).

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Bolivian Ranch Becomes Recovery Reserve for Rare Macaw

Blue-throated macaw (Photo by Joe Tobias courtesy Armonia)WASHINGTON, DC, - Only 300 blue-throated macaws still survive in the wild, but this critically endangered parrot species is getting a new lease on life in its native Bolivian grassland habitat.

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