The Rarest of the Macaws

[Spiritbird]

Have any of you seen the Spix Macaw? Since 2000 they are no longer found in the wild. They are mostlly in captive breedig programs now. What a shame as they are so beautiful.

http://10000birds.com/spixs-macaw-the-worlds-rarest-parrot.htm

 

[Ratzy]

I love Spixes! They are beautiful!!

 

[parrotqueen]

Gosh, it is a shame. I love the Spix macaws!

Here's another great place for pics: Spix Macaw | Parrot Pictures

 

[Spiritbird]

I wonder if anyone has one in their home??

 

[parrotqueen]

Well, there might be a few rescuers or breeders that get to interact with some. They probably don't interact too much, in order to ready the bird for it's release to the wild.

It sure would be neat to meet one of these magnificent birds in person.

 

[samiam]

I wonder if anyone has one in their home??

Quite possibly. One was found in a home in Colorado, in 2002 I think. It was returned to Brazil.

There was a member on another board that is really into consevation, she got to meet some chicks last years at Al Wabra and shared some pictures. That must have been an amazing experience.

 

[antoinette]

They sure are amazing looking birds, such a shame they are no longer found in the wild.
Thanks for sharing the pictures

 

[Aussie Ben]

Love the Spix, such a unique bird. Great link SB, I'll certainly put some time aside to read that.

Few weeks ago, I stumbled across a podcast from wings 'n things about the Spix macaw. The show is hosted by Babara Heidenreich and Robin Shewokis and I decided to listen to it. I haven't listened to many of these podcasts, but I found much of there information informative. In this podcast they talk to an Australian bird trainer, Nicholas Bishop, who has had some hands on experience with these birds. It was quite interesting to hear a first hand account on what these birds are like to work with. If you have the time, worth a listen. www.petliferadio.com (You need to go to 'Wings 'n Things' on the right hand side, then scroll down to episode 25-Conservation od spix macaws through training)

 

[Spiritbird]

Thank you so much for this wonderful link AB. I will listen to that pcast later today. Thanks for sharing your information.

 

[Bobby34231]

I had the great privilege to see a couple pairs of breeding Spix some 20 plus years ago in loxahatchee Fl., as far as seeing someone here having a pet Spix, its highly doubtful with the mountain of paperwork needed to be owned by one.....

 

[Alwese]

I wonder if anyone has one in their home??

I think it was in 2007 in Colorado a Spix was found and they really didn't know what they had. It was turned over to the captive breeding program. Here is a pic of two Spix (Spixes???) I have.

 

[Aussie Ben]

I think it is quite possible that even more birds are being held by people that either don't know what they have, or are keeping them illegally as 'luxury' items. For the sake of the species they should be turned over to breeding programs.

Here is a pic of two Spix (Spixes???) I have.

Spixi? LOL

 

[Aussie Ben]

I had the great privilege to see a couple pairs of breeding Spix some 20 plus years ago in loxahatchee Fl.

I am jealous

 

[Bobby34231]

My Quincy's pretty rare as macaws go, though their making good progress in captive breeding programs, the estimate for the amount of Blue Throated Macaws in the wild is believed to be somewhere between 100-300 birds...........

 

[apatrimo94]

My Quincy's pretty rare as macaws go, though their making good progress in captive breeding programs, the estimate for the amount of Blue Throated Macaws in the wild is believed to be somewhere between 100-300 birds...........

SHOW OFF!!!!! lol

 

[Aussie Ben]

My Quincy's pretty rare as macaws go, though their making good progress in captive breeding programs, the estimate for the amount of Blue Throated Macaws in the wild is believed to be somewhere between 100-300 birds...........

I heard they were in strife, those numbers are really low

 

[wildheart]

I saw a program about the Spix on Animal Planet - last year I think. It was about a [FONT=verdana,sans-serif,arial] Sheikh in [/FONT][FONT=verdana,sans-serif,arial]Qatar[/FONT][FONT=verdana,sans-serif,arial] that created an environment that is almost an exact duplicate of their native habitat. It was incredible to see, this guy is EXTREMELY wealthy! I surged for it on google and found this site about him, he has 52 breeding Spixs! Very interesting read.

Sheikh goes from collector to conservationist in effort to save the world's rarest parrot
[/FONT]

 

[Spiritbird]

I would love to have just one of their feathers.

 

[Cowtown]

They are absolutely beautiful.

 

[MotherlodeParrot]

Here's another link to Loro Parque which is devoted to breeding Spix Macaw's.

Conservation, Spix's Macaw

Here's a link to a Youtube tour of Loro Parques Spix Breeding program.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaY-2MtoaEc"]Spix's Macaw Breeding Center - YouTube[/ame]

I actually read recently that one of the Brazilian breeding programs had 4-5 Spix Macaw's stolen from their breeding programs. Talk about lowly to steal from a breeding program that is attempting rescue one of the most spectacular bird species from extinction.