The Rare Buffons Macaw

The Buffons macaw or also known as the Great Green Macaw is one of the large Macaws that are rare in the wild, and are listed on the list of Threatened Species as endangered. They are rare in captivity too, but they have proven to be good breeders. Today with successful breeding, the Buffon's Macaw is not only becoming more available, but a few captive bred birds have also been re-introduced into the wild in some areas of its native habitat. The buffon macaw gets its nickname the great green macaw because it is one of 6the largest birds in its region. It reaches up to 36'' and can wiegh up to 5 pounds. The Buffon's Macaw is very social and makes a wonderful pet bird. It is at a top position as one of the most affectionate of the pet Macaws. Even breeding pairs have been known to be friendly when almost all breeding pairs are usually very agressive. Like all Macaws they are also quite intelligent, happy and playful. They are considered to be fair talkers and are excellent at learning tricks.
    The appearence of the Buffon's Macaw is green with pale blue on the lower back, over the rump, and onto the upper part of the tail. The rest of the tail is a pale brownish red, tipped with blue. The forehead, along with the feathered lines on the lore, is red. The bare facial area is white with a pink cast to it and black feathered lines. The legs are gray. The beak is also gray, though paler towards the tip, and the eye is a dull yellow.  A younger bird will be paler overall, especially on the undersides and its central tail feathers are tipped with a dull yellow. They also have a brown eye. These are some of the most beautiful rare birds in the central american countries.

Why did the Glaucus Macaw disappear?

     The Glaucus Macaw was the largest parrot in the world. This extremely endangered resident of Brazil was slightly smaller than the Hyacinth (a close relative to the Glaucus Macaw) but had a strong family resemblance. Slightly smaller still and greener than most macaws is another cousin to the Glaucus Macaw, the Lear Macaw. The question of its continued existence provides facination for many people who are both trying to find the bird and help maintain its existence. It is told that the last Glaucus macaw "died" in the Buenos Aires Zoo in 1938 having been there 20 years.
     Many people have spent their whole lives searching alone large rivers in sub-tropical forests in almost all of south america just to find this animal. The birds population is likely to have declined severely as a result of hunting and trapping, plus habitat degradation and destruction. However, it may well remain existant, because not all of its formerly large range of habitat has been surveyed and searched, and there have been persistent and convincing local reports. Any remaining population is likely to be tiny, and for these reasons it is treated as Critically Endangered. The size and appearance of the bird probably made it a significant target for hunters, and even the taking of young as pets could have been an important role in this creatures random rapid decrease in population.
     There are a couple organizations who strongly believe this animal is still existant. Even the Brazilian government believes it existance by passing a law that protects the bird from any harm or relocation. One of these organizations is the Birdlife Preventing Extinctions Programme, http://www.birdlife.org/action/campaigns/species_champions/index.html , which is a global network of independent nature conservation organisations operating in more than 100 countries. Their work to evaluate and monitor the status of the world’s bird species began many years ago. They now know the threats that face every globally threatened bird, and the main conservation actions required to protect them. These organizations may seem to not help but they accually do. They have repopulated over 1,000 birds and taken 500 off of the endangered species list. Birds on the endangered species list are currently being helped out by these organizations due to their lack of population caused by hunting and the destroying of their environment. If organizations like these would have been around many years ago and had more funds the Glaucus Macaw and many other birds would not have dissappeared.
 

The Quest for the Blue-throated Macaw

    Blue throated macaws are an extremely rare animal all around the world. They are so rare that some people believe that the bird is only a myth. It wasnt always like this though, at one point this bird was very plentiful. Over 1,200 of these birds have been exported from JUST bolivia! Now today only 100 of these birds remain in the whole world because of trappers and exporters are selling these birds to other countries for large anounts of money. Unfortunatly for the birds their homes are being destroyed by people looking to tear down their forest for money. Its not all negatives for the bird though. The bolivian government has made a law that states capturing or making a profit of any sort from this bird is completely illegal. Also many american breeders have convinced the government to allow them to take the birds back with them to america and breed these birds and repopulate the country of bolivia back to its original state of the Blue-Throated Macaw being a common bird. Quest for the Blue Throated Macaw