Amazon Blue Fronted Parrot

Category: Education | Date: Jun 01 2009 | By: blueparrot

On May 31st, I presented the Blue-fronted Amazon Project at the 5th Parrot International Symposium (www.parrotsinternational.org), held in Las Vegas, from May 29-31st (Video - Parrots International Symposium 2009). The Symposium program featured 20 speakers from across the globe, a very full schedule. Presentation topics ranged from parrot conservation, aviculture, behavior, and veterinary medicine. I am thankful for Dr. Mark and Marie Stafford’s invitation - Founders of the Parrots International, Dr. Anna Cronkap’s financial support - Parque das Aves Foz Tropicana, and the translation provided by Dr. Yara Barros - Technical Director of the Parque das Aves. Several other Brazilian Projects were presented besides the Blue-fronted Amazon Project:

Carlos Bianchi - “How we can improve our knowledge about endangered species: a contribution from the Pfrimer’s Parakeet project”, Brazil.

Dr. Mathias Dislich - “Development of a Macaw Reintroduction Project: A case study”, Blue and Gold Macaw and Green-winged Macaw
Reintroduction Project - Igaucu Falls, Brazil.

Dr. Neiva Guedes - “Factors that influence the reproductive success of Hyacinth Macaw in Pantanal, Brazil”,The Hyacinth Macaw Project - The Pantanal, Brazil.

Dr. Yara Barros - “Spix’s Macaw Recovery Program: Retrospective and Perspectives”, Brazil.

The meeting was great, and it was definitely helpful to to divulge the Blue-fronted Amazon Project and to raise awareness for their conservation. Keep tunned! More news coming soon!

Glaucia

Dr. Anna Cronkap - Parque das Aves Foz Tropicana

Dr. Mark and Marie Stafford - Parrots International

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Category: Nestlings, Pantanal, Team | Date: Feb 13 2009 | By: blueparrot

The reproductive season of the blue-fronted parrot at Pantanal occurs always between July and December. On July, the couples start to look and compete for cavities in trees to make their nests. In August they start to lay the eggs (with an interval of 2 to 15 days between eggs) which will be incubated for about 28 days.

Female in the nest.

Just born chick.

Females taking care of the nest.

The nestling are featherless, and have their eyes closed; and in my opinion they are wonderful! But not everyone agrees with that… ;0)

They stay 54-60 days in the nest, under extreme careful parental care. And around November/December, they are ready for their first flight!

These guys are ready for their first flight!

On 2008, we monitored 155 cavities on trees (which have been previously used as nest), from which 51 were used for nesting this reproductive season. The nests had anything between 1 and 5 eggs each, with a total of 131 eggs. Many eggs were lost, either due natural predation or rain/wind. Sixty-four parrots hatched, and around 40 of them made through their first flight (and were leg banded). We wish them good luck and a long life. Happy with this success we continue our work for their conservation.

Some more pictures for you… Enjoy!

Here I am checking a nest!

And Vandir is checking this one.

Everyone helps to check the equipments, to make sure everything is working properly.

Veronica is monitoring some chicks.

These guys grow fast! We need to measure them often to monitor their development.

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Category: Pantanal, Partners, Support, Team | Date: Jan 02 2009 | By: blueparrot

Many days have passed since my last post, and, sadly, many other blue fronted nestlings have arrived at the CRAS (Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center/Environmental Institute of Mato Grosso do Sul state)… A total of 788 seized nestlings were brought to the CRAS on 2008. Certainly hundreds of other nestlings died on the action of the smugglers.
But we also had a lot of good news. We have been very busy and active in the field, checking the growth of the blue fronted nestlings, as well as other psittacines species. Many people got involved and helped us with the conservation of this parrot, either by volunteering at the field, or supporting our work (partnerships and material/financial support).

We ended 2008 with the certainty that we still have a lot of work to do for the conservation… However, we also have the conviction that we are not alone, and that more and more people are getting involved with the nature conservation. This manner, we would like to express our deep and sincere thanks to everyone, and wish you all a wonderful 2009!
A huge hug,
Glaucia Seixas and Team

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Category: Nestlings, Pantanal, illegal wildlife trade | Date: Oct 06 2008 | By: blueparrot

Other 225 nestling parrots were seized last week by the Military Police at Mato Grosso do Sul state!!! Now they sum 600 blue-fronted parrots and 16 yellow-faced parrots, taken from their nests to supply the (national and international) illegal animal trade – only on this reproductive season!!! These animals are now receiving health care at the Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center (CRAS) at Campo Grande. Since it was created 20 years ago, the CRAS has received thousands and thousands of blue-fronted parrot nestlings. Most of them captured on the board of Sao Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul states. The smugglers know this area pretty well, and sometimes stairs are left year-round at the nest-threes to facilitate the capture on the following reproductive season!  This year the illegal capture of these animals was unquestionably very intense; however, it will take three to four years for this huge decrease of recruitment to affect the wild population of parrots – about when the parrots would start their reproduction. The Blue-fronted Parrot Project aims to raise public awareness about the consequences of this uncontrolled illegal capture of the parrots. For the part decade we have been trying to instruct public not to acquire/buy those animals for pets – no consumers/buyers, no reason for the smugglers to capture them.We hope to come back with some better news next time.

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Category: Education, Nestlings, Pantanal, illegal wildlife trade | Date: Oct 01 2008 | By: blueparrot

On Sept 19^th, after receiving an anonymous call, the Environmental Military Police made the seizure of 377 offspring of parrots - the largest ever held in Mato Grosso do Sul. Fifty-three, out of the 377 nestlings, died. Fifteen were yellow-faced parrots (Amazona xanthops), and the rest were blue-fronted parrots (A. aestiva). The parrots were being transported in boxes of vegetables and came from Ivinhema (approximately 290 km from Campo Grande) and the smugglers were using kids to collect the nestlings and eggs from the nests. The animals were brought to the Center for Rehabilitation of Wild Animals (CRAS) in Campo Grande, where they are receiving health care from the CRAS personnel, under the coordination of Vinicius Andrade Lopes. Sadly, the blue-fronted amazon parrot is still illegally collected in Brazil. It is a very popular parrot, due its ability to mimic sounds – being able to imitate words and phrases. This illegal capture directly decreases the recruitment of this species, and compromises its ability for further reproduction, as most of the nest-cavities are destroyed by the smugglers in order to gain access to the nests. These animals will stay at least for one year at CRAS and might be released after that. I met with Vinicius to discuss the necessary strategies in order to prevent the illegal wildlife trade, as raise public awareness and monitoring. It is very sad for us to see all these animals, knowing that they are only a small fraction of all the animals captured every year. But we will keep fighting for them and their environment. We will use all our efforts to fight against the illegal wildlife trade, and aware public about the importance of this and all the other wildlife species in Pantanal. We won’t give up. We will never give up.

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Category: Education, Nestlings, Pantanal | Date: Sep 22 2008 | By: blueparrot

We are still at the field, working with the activities of the thematic month. The guests who are visiting the Refugio Ecologico Caiman (www.caiman.com.br) are having so much fun! Our externs (Lorena, Diana and Veronica) lecture to the guests, with the help of Caiman guides (Fábio, Helder, Leonardo, Vitinho and Daiana).      When checking the nests, the guest had the chance to see 3 little cute nestlings, with about 10-15 days old!!Besides visiting the collective roosting site of the parrots, they could enjoy a wonderful sunset, characteristic of the Pantanal.     When not with the guest, we monitor nests, eggs, and offspring of this reproductive season.And, on the spare times… Vandir teaches rappel to the externs – technique used to gain access to unreachable nests on the top of trees.Please stay connected! More news coming soon!   

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Category: Education, Nestlings, Pantanal, Partners | Date: Sep 11 2008 | By: blueparrot

During September 2008, we presented our research activities to the guests at the Refúgio Ecológico Caiman (www.caiman.com.br). This activity is called “Mês temático do Projeto Papagaio-verdadeiro” [Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot thematic month] and has as objective to provide the guests a better interactivity with the Project, the environment, and the local culture. After being introduced to the Project by a presentation, the guests of the Refúgio Ecológico Caiman have the opportunity to visit nests of blue-fronted Amazon parrots (with eggs and/or nestlings) and one roosting site. At the first week of this month, the guests had a chance to visit two parrot’s nests with 2 and 4 eggs, and a roosting site, with about 500 parrots!!!  Being able to have this unique experience will certainly approximate the guests with nature conservation, the parrots, and its environment. For us, this is a great opportunity to aware people about the importance of conservation and to divulge the Project.Our sincere thanks to Dr. Roberto Klabin and the Caiman team for this opportunity and great results! :0) 

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Category: Education, Partners, Support, Team | Date: Aug 12 2008 | By: blueparrot

On 1993, a group of friends, concerned about the conservation of natural resources, gathered to create a non-governmental organization called Fundacao Netropica do Brasil. During these 15 year of work, Neotropica promoted and practiced nature conservation at Mato Grosso do Sul state through countless projects. There were many challenges, conquests and results (http://www.fundacaoneotropica.org.br/). The Blue Fronted Amazon Parrot Project is among the many ongoing projects. We are glad to be part of this story! Our sincere thanks to the team members, council, partners, collaborators, patrons, and encouragers for the success thus far!!!  

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Category: Field Work, Pantanal, Support | Date: Jul 23 2008 | By: blueparrot

We are glad to inform that our proposal submitted to Idea Wild (http://www.ideawild.org/) was approved! Soon we will receive the donation of the following equipments: a digital scale to weight the nestlings (to replace the one we lost last year), a binocular 10×42 (to replace our old one!) and a equipment to measure the temperature and humidity in the nest cavities (will allow us to collect data from the nests). These equipments are important to the Project and the collaboration of Idea Wild is essential for the conservation of the blue-fronted amazon parrot and other psittacine species in Pantanal, Brazil. Our field team and the parrots deeply appreciate it!!! Thank you very much IDEA WILD!!!  

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Category: Field Work, Partners, Support | Date: May 30 2008 | By: blueparrot

During May, Glaucia, Vandir, and Thayane received Dr. Vivian Ribeiro Baptista-Maria, a biologist and PhD in Applied Ecology from ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo, accompanied by Daniela Masumoto, a BS in Tourism. During the field trip, Dr. Vivian helped us to identify the plant species consumed by the parrots or used as nest cavity. Dr. Vivian is consultant of Fundação Neotrópica do Brasil and is responsible for the environmental consulting Bíon – Consultoria Ambiental (vrbmaria@gmail.com). Two days (and nights!) of hard work, rain, sun, mosquitoes, and ticks. Dr. Vivian’s voluntary collaboration was fundamental for this part of the project, when the data of 11 years of project are being analyzed for results compilation and publishing.Vivian and Daniela identifying plant species.Vandir, Glaucia and Vivian checking the trees.Vivian checking the books.We deeply appreciate her collaboration, as well as Daniela’s help on the field work. We are also thankful to the superintendent of Fundação Neotrópica do Brasil, Eleri Rafael Muniz Paulino, who supported the trip by making funds for gas and a vehicle available.Some more pictures of this field trip for you!Vivian and the ticks! :0)Vivian and Glaucia at riparian forest.Vandir and Daniela in a haze.Glaucia, Daniela, Vivian, and Vandir in the riparian forest.The guides at Estancia Caiman taking a look at out work.Vandir and Vivian appreciating the trees.Vandir, Vivian, Daniela, and Thayane.Vivian and Daniela registering the data.Vivian and Glaucia double checking the data.  Vivian in her way to the sampling spots at riparian forest of Aquidauana river. :0)

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