City ParrotsUrban Scarlet Macaw & Parrot Conservation

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