We’ve been seeing a wonderful rise in visitor numbers to 10,000 Birds of late (for which we’re very grateful). I’m not suggesting that it’s been anything to do with the Parrot Month theme we’ve been championing so hard, but it did occur to me that a quick recap of what we’ve written about so far and what we’ve planned for the coming weeks might be useful for those of you who are new to the blog and who have absolutely no idea what the ‘Parrot Month’ I just referred to is all about…

Basically we’re trying to get birders/visitors/readers thinking about parrots as wild birds that are facing the same problems as wild birds all over the world, and to look at some of the ramifications of owning a parrot (which many well-meaning would-be owners don’t always appreciate)…so what we’re doing is a series of posts on parrots: endangered parrots, parrot conservation organisations, interviews with ‘parrot people’, comments on parrots, reviews of books about parrots, the wild bird trade, parrots as pets, behavioural problems with pet parrots, and - er, oh anything anyone cares to send us about parrots really. (For those of you worrying that might be total overkill and you didn’t come to 10,000 Birds to read about just 340 birds - roughly the number of parrot species - don’t worry we’re covering all our other usual bases as well!).

So what might a new arrival have already missed, and what might a returning visitor find on their next visit?

Well, so far, we’ve posted…

• An exclusive interview with World Parrot Trust exec-director Dr Jamie Gilardi
• An article on the critically endangered Puerto Rican Parrot, with exclusive data and photos from Ricardo Valentin
• An article on the extinct Carolina Parakeet
• An article on the critically endangered Spix’s Macaw - extinct in the wild since 2000
• An article looking at the work being done at Al Wabra to raise Spix’s Macaw ‘from the dead’ (fact checked by Ryan Watson who co-ordinates the work on macaws at Al Wabra)
• An wonderfully personal interview with Karen Cheek Justice who worked with Ryan Watson at Al Wabra
• An article on the Thick-billed Parrot, an Endangered Mexican endemic
• A look at National Bird Day
• A review of the book “Of Parrots and People”

A pretty impressive line-up I think you’d have to agree. Can we keep it up? Oh, I think so.

We’ve posts written or in the process of being written as follows:

• An exclusive interview with Dr Stewart Metz of the Indonesian Parrot Project, and - hopefully - an interview with ProFauna Indonesia
• An article on the Cape Parrot, written with input from the Cape Parrot Working Group
• An article on the Endangered Echo Parakeet of Mauritius with photos and data from the team working so hard to save the species
• Articles and comments on the illegal bird trade written by - amongst others - Monica Engebretson, Senior Program Associate with Born Free Usa
• A look at some behaviour problems of captive parrots in an article by renowned consultant and author Greg Glendell
• A detailed look at the BirdLife International “Species Champions” programme
• An exclusive interview with David Woodbury, parrot owner and webmaster of Parrot-Link a site with a forum that has 8,000 members!
• An article on Pacific parrots written by renowned blogger GrrlScientist of “Living the Scientific Life“
• An article on parrot biology written by another renowned blogger, Nick Sly of Biological Ramblings
• An article on the Ring-necked Parakeet in the UK with data and maps provided by the British Trust for Ornithology
• An article on the Monk Parakeet, followed by an interview with Steve Baldwin of Brooklyn Parrots on the work he’s doing to protect NY’s feral Monks

We have more exclusive content still at the early stages of development. We’ll do all we can to get as many voices heard as possible so that we can put as much information online from as many viewpoints as we can possibly get hold of - so do please come back because we guarantee you’ll find some very interesting material here on the 10,000 Birds ‘Parrot Month’…