Spix’s macaw returns to Brazil, but is overshadowed by controversy

by Suzana Camargo on 19 March 2020 | Translated by Matt Rinaldi

• Twenty years after the species was officially declared extinct in nature, 52 Spix’s macaws (Cyanopsitta spixii) arrived in Brazil’s Bahia state for eventual reintroduction back into their native habitat.
• But controversy surrounds the program, stemming from the organization providing the captive-bred birds: the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots, whose founder, Martin Guth, has been accused of running a private collection linked to wildlife trafficking and organized crime.
• The ACTP is footing the bill for the Spix’s macaw reintroduction program, including building a $1.4 million facility in Bahia, but it’s not clear where the money is coming from. The Brazilian government, as a partner in the program, has also not provided details about the terms of the agreement, and is reportedly pressuring local breeders to send their birds to the ACTP in Germany.
• The birds are slated for released into the wild in 2021, after a process of adaptation, into two conservation areas established specifically for the Spix’s macaw in Bahia.

The town of Curaçá in Brazil’s of Bahia state lost its last wild Spix’s macaws (Cyanopsitta spixii) two decades ago. So there was a large celebration when, on March 3 this year, 52 of the parrots, bred in captivity, were brought back here to their native region. The macaw was declared extinct in the wild in 2000, a victim of wildlife trafficking and symbol of the ongoing struggle to conserve Brazil’s biodiversity.

But there’s a shadow hanging over their return, cast by the controversial organization that bred them and continues to wield outsize influence over their fate.

The birds brought to Bahia (26 males and 26 females) are the result of a successful captive-breeding program by the Germany-based Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots e. V. (ACTP), which has partnered with the Brazilian government. The event was considered so important that the minister of the environment, Ricardo Salles, was in Petrolina, Pernambuco state, to receive the macaws alongside ACTP head Martin Guth and other Brazilian authorities.

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Dalmatian pelicans that took a wrong turn to freezing Siberia in winter released back to wild

By The Siberian Times reporter

25 April 2019

There were nine young pelicans in the squadron that landed in the mountainous Altai region in November. 

They were noticed by the locals helplessly skidding and tumbling on ice of a lake near the town of Aleysk. 

The world's largest freshwater birds took went off course pushed by strong Western winds, and  became weakened by icy air and cold ground temperatures. 

The pelicans were rescued thanks to efforts of expert Alexey Ebel, a biologist by training and a keen birdwatcher.

They spent winter in the local veterinary clinic, with hundreds of people donating to feed the rare birds. 

 ‘The pelicans ate nearly three tons of fish,’ said Atryom Kucher, director of ‘Dobriy Vrach’ veterinary clinic.

‘We organised the care in a way that the birds could remain as wild as possible, so they didn’t go begging for food from anglers. 

‘This is why we kept only one person looking after them, so that they see humans as danger. 

‘We think they should do well.’

Nine pelicans were ringed and released at Pelikaniy nature reserve in the Altai region. 

One more Dalmatian pelican landed in the same area later last winter. 

By then the air temperature then was -20C, so the bird got its wing and paw badly frostbitten and will have to stay in the clinic longer.

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California condor that helped save species returns to wild

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Banking into the wind and then gliding out of sight, a male California condor flew back into the wild after a captive breeding program that helped save North America's largest species of land bird.

The 35-year-old bird named AC-4 soared out of his open pen earlier this week at a canyon rim inside the Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge, in central California's Kern County. He had been one of just 23 condors left in the world in the 1980s.

It was the bird's first free flight since 1985, when a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service team captured him near the same spot. It was part of a last-ditch attempt to stop the extinction of the California condor, which has a wing span of more than 9 feet.

AC-4 needed only a few minutes to get his bearings before flying out of the pen and over the canyon, said Joseph Brandt, a lead condor biologist with the wildlife service. Brandt was sitting on a hilltop nearby to watch the release.

"He kind of flew right past us. It was really incredible," Brandt said by telephone Thursday.

Lead poisoning is believed one of the main factors that drove California condors toward extinction. The birds ingest fragments of lead bullets when they feed on carcasses of animals shot by hunters.

California lawmakers voted in 2013 to phase out lead bullets for hunting by 2019.

Biologists believe AC-4 was 5 to 7 years old when they captured him for the captive breeding program. He fathered the first chick born in the program, giving the program's founders greater hope they could save the species.

In all, AC-4 sired 30 condor chicks that have been successfully released into the wild.

"Many people have poured their heart and soul" into saving the condors, Jesse Grantham, a former condor program coordinator and part of the original team that captured AC-4, said in a statement from the wildlife service.

This year, biologists recorded 19 wild condor nests in central and Southern California, more nests than at any point this century, Brandt said.

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