Last month we posted a short ‘trail’ for a theme we were planning for January about parrots (at Next Month is Parrot Month on 10,000 Birds). We’re not just posting about parrots all month (we’ll have the usual mix of general posts too of course), but it’s time now to expand that ‘trail’ and look in more detail at what we are planning to post about parrots over the next thirty days - and why…

In the trail we asked the question that we felt some readers might reasonably be asking: Why spend a month writing about parrots? The answer we gave was “Not just because we’re a bird blog and they’re beautiful and popular birds, but because - remarkably - parrots have proportionately more threatened species amongst their ranks than any other large bird family (proportionately the much smaller group of albatrosses are now the MOST threatened family - almost entirely due to being killed on long-lines used in the fishing industry - but in total it’s the parrots that are in the most trouble). As the World Parrot Trust says on their website, “Of the more than 350 known species of parrots, nearly 100 are threatened in the wild. Popular as pets, many are captured for the wild bird trade or suffer from hunting or loss of habitat”.

‘Almost a third of all parrots are threatened in the wild’. That’s quite a chilling statistic, and considering how ubiquitous parrots are in the media, in popular culture, and in captivity (in homes and zoos all over the world) probably a quite surprising one for many people (birders and bloggers like us included!). The stark fact is though that while some parrots are holding their own (and even increasing as - like Monk Parakeets Myiopsitta monachus in the US and Ring-necked Parakeets Psittacula krameri in Europe and the Middle East - they spread into new locations through escaped and/or released birds establishing breeding populations) many species are incredibly rare, with populations in the low hundreds (or even less) which is far lower than, for example, some of the threatened mammals that currently receive so much attention.

Two female Echo Parakeets, Mauritius. A conservation success story, at one time just 10 individuals survived: there are now around 300. Photo copyright Charlie Moores.

The rarest of the rare species include North America’s only extant native parrot the Puerto Rican Parrot (less than FIFTY exist in the wild - we have an exclusive article with gorgeous photos by Ricardo Valentin who works on a breeding programme on the island and knows the species better than virtually anyone else); Mauritius’s Echo Parakeet Psitticula echo, which has a tiny population living in the remnant patches of rainforest that survive on this heavily-developed island; Australia’s Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster which has a population of about 150 with the same again in captivity; the remarkable nocturnal, lekking Kakapo Strigops habroptilus which now exists only on a couple of rodent-free islands off New Zealand and has a population of less than a hundred; and perhaps the world’s rarest wild parrot, the recently re-discovered abbottii sub-species of Yellow-crested Cockatoo Cacatua sulphurea which is found on just one island in Indonesia and has a population of TEN individuals (we have an exclusive interview with Dr Stewart Metz of the Indonesian Parrot Project who is working so hard to protect this and other endangered Indonesian parrot species). We’re still hoping we can post articles on all of these rare parrots (and possibly more) but contacting the relevant people in December/early January isn’t always easy - even passionate conservationists have to take a holiday break at some point!

Abbott’s Yellow-crested Cockatoo wears its unenviable crown only because it takes it from another incredibly rare parrot which was last seen in the wild in 2000. That’s when the last known wild Spix’s Macaw Cynapositta spixii, a beautiful blue macaw endemic to a small area of northern Brazil, disapppeared. For at least ten years this solitary bird was the ONLY Spix’s known in the wild. We have an article looking at its blighted history - of its discovery, destruction of its habitat, and the poaching for private collections that finally wiped it out in the wild.

On a happier note we also have an article that looks at the remarkable Spix’s Macaw breeding programme being conducted in a private facility in the Middle East, the Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, which is striving to build up the global population and which at the end of 2008 sent out a wonderful press-release with news that anyone interested in parrots - or indeed endangered birds - must read. (The two articles have been fact-checked and updated by Ryan Watson, Blue Macaw Co-ordinator and Primary Studbook keeper of the Spix’s Macaw who is based at Al Wabra.) We also have an interview with Karen Cheek Justice, founder of Parrot University who spent a month at Al Wabra working with Spix’s Macaws under Ryan’s guidance and who talks about the profound impact the experience had on her.

Some twenty species and sub-species of parrots have been pushed into extinction in the last 500 years, including, for example, Australia’s beautiful Paradise Parrot (Why? According to the Queensland Government’s website “Land clearing, grazing by sheep and cattle, and changed patterns of burning all contributed to the destruction of the paradise parrot’s habitat…Trapping for aviaries, egg collection, the spread of prickly pear and the occurrence of a series of droughts were also factors that are likely to have contributed to the paradise parrot’s extinction“, which in essence sums up the problems many parrots face in the wild). One of the better-known species to have been lost in recent times was mainland North America’s only endemic parrot species, the Carolina Parakeet Conuropsis carolinensis: we have an article looking at the history of this lovely bird and the reasons for its rapid spiral into extinction.

It’s not all doom-and-gloom though of course, and there are both wonderful individuals (from ornithologists, scientists, and aviculturalists, through to ‘concerned citizens’) and organisations working to protect both wild and captive/companion parrots. As well as the interview with Stewart Metz I mentioned earlier we also have an exclusive interview with Dr Jamie Gilardi, the remarkably affable exec-director of the World Parrot Trust. We’re also looking at BirdLife International’s important “Preventing Extinctions Programme”, which is putting concerned individuals/organisations together with some of the most critically endangered birds on Earth - including twelve parrot species. We also have an interview with Steve Baldwin of Brooklyn Parrots who is working to promote awareness of New York’s growing population of Monk Parakeets, an article by Monica Engebretson (Senior Program Associate at Born Free USA) on the waste inherent in the wild bird trade, and an article written by renowned parrot behaviour specialist Greg Glendell who looks at behavioural problems in captive parrots.

We also have an interview with David Woodbury who has a household full of parrots and also finds time to run Parrot-Link - a website and forum for parrot-owners that has an incredible 8000+ members! David’s interview answers many of the questions that a non-parrot-owner like me has.

We’ll also be promoting National Bird Day (January 5th), posting comments and commentary, photo-galleries, and much, much more - including posts written by some of the best nature bloggers around! (Whew!)

We’d still like more input from researchers/conservationists or from anyone who’d like to promote their parrot-related work to readers of 10,000 Birds (we average about 1500 visitors a day and have over 650 daily subscribers to our blog feed). We’d also like to hear from more owners too. There’s thirty days of January still to go and I write quite quickly if any of you would like to get in touch (how many regular readers of 10,000 Birds have a parrot at home I wonder?)…

Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus haematodus, Sydney, Copyright Charlie Moores

We’ve been putting together ‘Parrot Month’ for about six weeks and a great many people have been extremely generous with both their time, knowledge and photographs. The reason? They know the threats facing the world’s parrots and they’re happy to help anyone (bird blogs included) who want to spread awareness of those threats. And that’s the point of ‘Parrot Month’: the only reason that we’re posting all this information is to try to get more birders thinking of parrots as “real birds” (there really does seem to be a disconnect somewhere and many people/birders don’t seem to think of parrots as wild birds that face the same threats and problems as wild birds all over the world), to promote the organisations and individuals working to save them, and - if this isn’t too presumptuous - to promote a dialogue between birders and parrot owners and demonstrate that in many cases there really isn’t that much difference between the two “sides” when it comes to issues such as trade bans in wild birds and welfare issues.

Now we have a favour to ask of you: if you share our concerns then PLEASE link to this page or post a short article asking your readers to have a look. You just never know who’s reading, and you never know who might be inspired to comment or offer invaluable advice/help etc. Thanks and all the best for 2009.