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We from Araproject always love to hear from the public. We know many people check in at our website to stay informed about the developments of the Scarlet macaws. In our talks with the people we meet, we often get questions about the origin of the macaws. Many locals recall bigger groups of macaws flying in the research area. Read on…
On Saturday the 15the of July we found the nest of the Scarlet macaws empty. Two weeks before team Araproject found two chicks in perfect health. No sign of a struggle were found and we therefore conclude the chicks were stolen.
Team Araproject is inconsolable. These two chicks were the hope of this species that is threatened with extinction in their native lands. Toos and Nape, the parents, show signs of distress. They have sat at the entrance of the nest for hours looking for their babies. Even looking down to see if they had fallen down. It is heartbreaking to see their despair. Read on…
City Parrots is dedicated to the miracle Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao) that have been ranging free in the Netherlands for over 25 years. Toos and Nape, as we have named these parrots, allow us, and you, a closer look into the lives of wild Scarlet Macaws. Both are representatives of the endangered Mezzo-American subspecies of Scarlet macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera). Read on…
Toos and Nape appeared in the local newspaper. Amazingly they flew right into the city centre! After ending the breeding cycle they were spotted quite often in more urban area’s. At this time the birds are difficult to track during the day. Late summer and early fall there is plenty of wild stuff for them to eat and they only visit the farm irregularly. We rely heavily on the cooperation of the public to inform us on chance encounters of the birds. Have you seen Toos and Nape somewhere? Please Contact us with your information. Thank you!
The chick Toos and Nape were raising disappeared. We are not entirely sure on the cause but the previous day saw exceptional heavy downpours. The weather is the biggest killer of parrot chicks in the wild. But we can not exclude genetic problems for the chick as she was the product of three generation of inbreeding. Getting fresh blood into the population will be the priority for the upcoming breeding seasons. Contact us if you like to help us achieve this goal.
March 2005 Wouter Teunissen, Grace Innemee and Roelant Jonker discovered two Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao) on an estate in the Netherlands province of Noord-Holland. You can read the story of their discovery in “Macaws in the Famous sky over Holland�?. This field report summarises what we have learned about these two macaws.
Read the whole article in PDF here
20 years ago I first heard about Macaws flying freely in my home country of the Netherlands. I was watching a television show presented by famous Dutch comedian and nature show host Ivo de Wijs. He talked about a 17th century estate in the west of The Netherlands that was recently bought by the national forest service. He pictured the audience a romantic view on the history of the estate with many tropical plants that, like magic, got a foothold in its 17th century landscape. This magic also extended to the bird life because at the end of the show there were a few glimpses of Macaws sitting high up a tree. I could not believe my eyes. Still a child then I wanted to jump on a train to find them. But I had forgotten the name of the estate and for a long time I never heard of these Macaws again.
Reed the whole article in PDF here
These birds are fully wild. They were never caged and were born free. During the last 25 years they must have experienced nights of up to 24 degrees of frost (-24C). When we discovered the birds in March 2005 it was freezing and snow covered the land. I did not bring my camera then but I can assure you that it was a strange sight. Read on…
Authorities have shown little interest in them. They do not do any damage apart from pinching the odd apple or two. Most people are pleasantly surprised to see them.
Some birders (really only one or two) though are not pleased with these potential alien invaders. We have explained them that there really is no threat coming from these birds to the native wildlife. Being depended on human handouts in winter they could never become invasive.
The farm where these birds are fed is just in the rural area. From there they have the choice to fly into an extensive wildlife reserve or to fly into town. Funny enough they are mostly observed flying into town. Even popping up in the down town shopping centre. We suspect this is because most fruit baring trees are situated in urban areas. But they are also observed in the more rural parts of the area and in the wildlife reserve. They range for several miles.
Outside of the breeding season they are very hard to track. Most days they roost close to the nest but beyond that we rely on fluke observations and a network of birders that gracefully report sightings of them.
