Six months after the last Spix macaw
in the wild disappears, some supporters
say they haven't given up

FOR YEARS, the media dubbed it the loneliest bird in the world. Now the last wild Spix's macaw, tracked for the last 10 years by Brazilian field biologists, may be the most sought after.

Late last year, researchers said the bird, a male according to DNA tests performed on a molted feather, had disappeared from its nesting area near the small town of Curaca. Headlines widely reported that the two-foot-long blue parrot was feared dead from hawks or poachers.

However, Spix supporters haven't given up hope yet, says Dr. Darrel K. Styles, chairman of the American Federation of Aviculture's Conservation and Research committee, which helps fund the Spix conservation effort. The bird's remains have not been found, and although it's now been six months, the search for it will continue once an unusually heavy rainy season ends.

The last Spix macaw in the wild is captured in silhouette by Peter Bono, a computer consultant from Connecticut who vacationed in Brazil last year. To see a captive bird up close, visit the The Loro Parque Foundation.

"The caatinga has had the wettest season on record," said Styles. "The researchers can't even ford the creeks, which are dry most of the year but are now experiencing flash floods. It's also very muddy. The vehicles have a hard time getting in and out of remote areas."

Styles said road work in the area last November may have frightened the Spix into a nearby region. Now, it may simply be a matter of waiting until the dry season returns and resuming the search before the bird is found.

Narrow habitat
Also sometimes affectionately known as the Little Blue Macaw, the Spix has deep-blue shoulders, like a blue-and-gold macaw's, but a ghostly pale-grey head with yellow eyes.

The macaw is named after Johann Baptist von Spix, who collected the first bird for science in 1819. The Spix is believed to have never roamed its native country in large numbers. The bird's historical range is a 100-mile-long, 12-mile-wide corridor along the San Francisco River in northeastern Brazil. It stayed near this main water source in the mostly dry region, nesting in the gallery forest and living on nuts and beanlike pods from several types of trees.

The Spix gradually lost its habitat as humans brought herd animals, deforestation and poaching into the area. Its numbers dwindled to less than three in the 1980s and it was feared extinct in the wild until 1991, when a Birdlife International expedition found the remaining bird in a dry scrubland located about 1300 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

With no female Spixes left in the wild, the lone male accepted as a companion a female Illiger macaw, a smaller, predominantly green relative. An attempt in 1995 to provide the male Spix with a female of his own species failed when she flew into an electrical wire and was killed.

In 1998, the Spix and his Illiger mate successfully raised two Illiger chicks scientists slipped into their nest to see if they would make good parents.

When the Spix disappeared, researchers were poised to take the next step of placing into the pair's nest Spix chicks hatched in captivity. The Spix's mate, the Illiger, was not marked to differentiate her from other wild Illigers, so scientists do not know if she is still in the area.

Local celebrity
In recent years, the "lonely" male had become something of a cause celebre in Curaca, despite the region's not-so-distant past as a hotbed of poachers. The turning point came, says Styles, when locals began to regard the bird as more of an economic boon for the town of 25,000 than a prize for the illegal bird trade.

To build up goodwill toward the conservation effort, the AFA teamed with the Brazilian government's group of Spix scientists and ornithologists, ARA Brazil, to build schools for Curaca's children and restore historical buildings.

"You have to educate the people, support them, and make them feel proud of their wildlife," says Styles. "It's a multi-pronged effort."

With area residents in their corner, the government's wildlife biologists added nest boxes and fenced in the Spix's territory to protect it from further damage by goats.

Program in the balance?
While conservationists have labored to save the last wild bird, the number of captive Spixes has gradually increased from a low of 17 birds in 1987 to over 60 today.

These birds are kept by Brazil's Sao Paolo Zoo and a handful of private breeders located throughout the world who have signed agreements with the Brazilian government to participate in the conservation program.

Unfortunately, in-fighting over the captive Spixes may prove a bigger barrier to the bird's survival than the loss of the wild male.

In recent years, some private breeders have reneged on their promise to return Spixes to Brazil for use in the reintroduction program, says Yves de Soye, director of the Canary Islands' The Loro Parque Foundation, a Spix breeder and a mainstay of the conservation effort.

In fact, says de Soye, some breeders have even sold birds to others outside of the conservation program, an even more egregious break with the reintroduction effort.

In February, the Brazilian government held an emergency meeting to decide what to do next.

"At the moment, we are waiting for Brazil to decide what the new rules will be," said de Soye. If the program cannot be restructured to its satisfaction, Loro Parque will be forced to withdraw its financial support, which has amounted to $600,000 over the last 10 years, said de Soye.

"The Spix macaw is our logo. It's been a big focus," he says. "But we run 17 other conservation projects, and we're happy to leave the program if things don't work out."

Reintroduction strategies
Despite setbacks, Brazil's efforts to reestablish the Spix in the wild will continue, says Styles. One option is to release a pair of captive-bred adult Spixes. This bold strategy would follow successful practice runs conducted with captive-bred Illigers several years ago.

Another option is to place Spix chicks in wild Iliger nests to be raised. Currently, Spix breeders outside of Brazil have produced the largest number of chicks. However, these babies cannot be used for the reintroduction because their hatching does not coincide with the Illiger's breeding season, says Styles.

"That's why it's very important for us to get on-site breeding started in Brazil, synchronized to the Illiger's breeding season." This year, a female Spix brought from the Philippines and mated to a wild-caught male in Brazil produced two chicks, Styles said.

One problem with this strategy could be Spix chicks that identify so strongly with Illigers, they could become confused and form hybrid pairs as adults. "Many field biologists think this would not occur," says Styles, "but we just don't know."

In the meantime, Brazilian biologists will keep searching for the lost Spix, says Styles.

"Dry season will start soon," he says. And with it, renewed hopes that the lone male Spix, the world's rarest parrot, will once again streak over the treetops of Curaca.

ParrotChronicles.com

-------

Interested in supporting the Spix conservation effort? The American Federation of Aviculture donates to Ara Brazil 80 percent of proceeds from t-shirts and other items sold on the AFA Web site. Your tax-deductible contributions are also welcome.

Comments about this story? Send a letter to Mailbag.