Trying to save Lear’s macaw in Brazil

From Wildlife Extra:

Critically endangered Lear’s macaw gets boost

April 2007. American Bird Conservancy has teamed up with the Brazilian conservation group Fundação Biodiversitas and the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund to purchase more than 3,000 acres of vital habitat to protect the Lear’s Macaw, one of the worlds’ most endangered birds, with less than 500 individuals surviving in the wild.

The project will protect key nesting sites; ensure their protection through hiring of forest guards, and support education efforts in local communities.

‘This large blue macaw faces several severe threats to its continued existence in the wild,’ said Michael J. Parr, Vice President of American Bird Conservancy and co-author of A Guide to the Parrots of the World.

‘It requires constant protection from the illegal wild bird trade while the licuri palm, on which the bird depends, is becoming increasingly scarce.

The key area for the species includes sandstone cliffs where it roosts and nests and where it is vulnerable to illegal trappers.’ …

Recent surveys suggest that only 451 Lear’s macaws survive in the state of Bahia in northeast Brazil.