Abstract
This year, an unusual stocking filler is available from the World Parrot Trust, the only conservation organization devoted exclusively to the survival and welfare of the world's 320 parrot species.
buy a palm for a parrot and your donation will help to save the endangered Lear's Macaw of Brazil. This large, beautiful blue parrot may soon be started into extinction as its principal food, ripened nuts from Licuri Palm trees, becomes increasingly scarce. You will receive an attractive AS certificate which will confirm the purchase of a "palm" for yourself or in the name of your friend or relative. On the reverse is the story of the Lear's Macaw and its struggle to survive.
Although we usually think of parrots in rainforests, the Lear's Macaw lives in thorny scrubland in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Reduced to just 60 birds in the wild, the Lear's Macaws leave their roosts before dawn to fly distances of up to 20 miles to reach feeding grounds. There they visit as many as five palm trees, consuming 350 palm nuts each day.
Scientists suspect that the Licuri Palm trees so vital to the macaws' survival cannot, even now, meet the parrots' dietary needs in the dry season. Worse, the palms are rapidly disappearing as pasture lands are cleared for the free range cattle farming on which the local economy depends. The cattle also graze on unripe palm fruits, which means not only are there fewer fruits left to ripen into the hard nuts the parrots require but also the palm trees are not regenerating in areas used by the livestock.
As the palm trees gradually become old and unproductive, the Lear's Macaws seem to fly farther and farther from their roosts in search of new feeding grounds. The macaws make long, exhausting flights over open ground, perch in predictable palm trees and even forage for palm nuts on the ground. This makes them easy targets for hunters who shoot the birds for food or capture these valuable parrots for sale to the pet trade.
The World Parrot Trust is mounting an expedition to Brazil to investigate the potential for a palm tree regeneration scheme. The project will begin by conducting thorough biological and ecological studies of the birds and their feeding behaviors. Palm experiments will follow to determine the best strategy for ensuring the survival of the Lear's Macaw.