Blue and gold macaws return to paradise
By Cindy Starr, Post staff reporter
Bernadette Plair grew up on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, surrounded by the beauty that nature’s most divine combination - water and warmth - can produce. Her childhood was enriched by scenes of sunrises, sunsets and flocks of blue and gold macaws.
”As a child I remember seeing them, flocks of blue and golds flying over,” recalled Ms. Plair, a research associate at the Cincinnati Zoo’s Center for Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW). ”It was the most beautiful sight.
”They would come in at dusk, during a beautiful evening sunset. You couldn’t ask for more. And they would go out to feed in the morning. They would leave at sunrise. And that was a sight in itself. Because when you have the sunrise, the rays of sun hitting them as they fly, that was really something.”
The sunsets and sunrises are still there for the people of Trinidad and the island’s visitors, but the magnificent ”blue and golds,” members of the parrot family whose length reaches 28 inches from beak to tail, have been gone for 38 years.
In the weeks ahead Ms. Plair will realize a longtime dream when she and other conservationists reintroduce the spectacular birds to their historic range on the island. Under the auspices of the Wildlife Section of the Forestry Division of Trinidad, 10 pairs of adult blue and gold macaws, caught in the wilds of Guyana, will be reintroduced into a 3,800-acre sanctuary within the vast Nariva Swamp, Trinidad’s largest wetland.
The sanctuary was established within the last two years for the protection of threatened tropical species, including the red-bellied macaw and the West Indian manatee. By happy coincidence, the area also included native habitat of the blue and gold macaw.
The release will culminate an effort that began six years ago when Ms. Plair, founder and associate director of the Centre(cq) for the Rescue of Endangered Species of Trinidad and Tobago (CRESTT), identified the reintroduction of blue and golds - a ”flagship species” - as a possible future project.
The macaws, which once flourished in the Nariva Swamp, were last seen there in 1961. ”They were extirpated because of the pet trade and also because of habitat loss,” said Ms. Plair, who came to Cincinnati in 1963 on a scholarship to the College of Mount St. Joseph.
In simpler times the macaws coexisted with farmers, who grew rice on the periphery of the swamp. But the birds’ habitat was reduced when commercialized rice farming methods, including water diversion, were introduced.
On a trip to Trinidad in the early 1980s, David Oehler, curator of the zoo’s aviculture department, searched for the macaws, to no avail. ”We were told they were gone,” Oehler said. ”We saw one on a porch, in a cage.”
The Trinidadian government’s decision to declare part of the swamp protected was a key component of the zoo’s decision to get involved, Oehler said.
The availability of funding also played a vital role. The Florida-based Endangered Parrot Trust is underwriting the cost of purchasing the birds, and Ed Thayer, a longtime Cincinnati Zoo patron and an avid birdwatcher, is underwriting the costs of transportation and veterinary care. The current phase of the reintroduction is projected at roughly $20,000.
Also critical was Ms. Plair’s ability to confirm, via a helicopter survey of the proposed release area, that the macaws’ food source (wild palms) is still abundant. ”Without the native foliage the birds didn’t stand a chance,” Oehler said.
Oehler said the reintroduction of blue and gold macaws ”fits perfectly” with the zoo’s mission ”to work hand and hand with conservation organizations throughout the world.”
The Cincinnati Zoo has housed blue and golds in the past but does not have any at present.
On Aug. 23 Ms. Plair will travel to Guyana with Steve Malowski, head keeper of the zoo’s aviculture department, Cincinnati Zoo veterinarian Mark Campbell, and another vet from the Endangered Parrot Trust. The vets will determine the sex of the birds (males and females look identical) and examine them to ensure that only healthy birds are transferred to Trinidad. Once in Trinidad, the birds will be placed in a pre-release enclosure that was built a few years ago by Malowski. The enclosure, approximately 21 feet tall and 25 feet long by 18 feet wide, contains trees and enough room for the birds to get adequate exercise.
”This is the probably the best-case scenario for reintroducing the population back into the wild,” Oehler said. ”The birds will go right into the release cage that Steve built.”
The birds will remain there for several months, ingesting a natural diet provided by local conservation workers. In December conservationists will release the males, who are expected to set up territories but remain near the still-confined females. The females will be released in January. The breeding season begins in February.
In future years, once the birds are established and nesting, Oehler said, ”We’ll take eggs (from captive stock) and place them in the wild nest and pull eggs under wild nest and put them under captive stocks. One pair will foster eggs and chicks of unrelated birds and add to the genetic stock out there.”
Five years from now, he added, ”We want to walk away and not have to augment the population; we’ll know that we have a viable group of blue and gold that we don’t have to manipulate in any way.”
Though the plans are well laid, Ms. Plair admitted she is a bit nervous. She has family members living on Trinidad, and her dedication to the blue and gold macaws has made her something of a local celebrity.
”The whole island knows that Bernadette is involved,” Oehler said.
Said Ms. Plair: ”This is is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for.”