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Wildlife: Up from the Ashes
Like a phoenix rising, Lear’s macaw, one of the world’s most
spectacular parrots, is on the rebound thanks to a concerted effort by
conservationists to protect its nesting grounds in northeastern Brazil,
the
only place it is found.
Threatened by hunting and the illegal pet trade, only 70 individuals survived in the wild in 1987. In June, researchers counted 751 Lear’s macaws as the birds flew from the sandstone cliffs where they roost to their licuri palm feeding areas—both in a wildlife reserve supported by the American Bird Conservancy.
With the group’s support, the preserve’s area has expanded ten-fold to 3,600 acres and is the world’s only protected area for this critically imperiled species.
“The growing population confirms how essential it is to protect an endangered species’ habitat,” says Eduardo Figueiredo of Fundacao Biodiversitas, the Brazilian conservation organization overseeing protection measures for the bird at the reserve. This group’s next goal is to secure funding to buy additional forest feeding grounds essential for the species and to undertake extensive local environmental education.
