My partner Jerry & I run an avian rescue centre in Belize, and over the years have become more and more focused on parrot rehabilitation and release. The local pet trade is a serious threat to the country's 9 resident species of Amazon, and although we don't imagine we could ever bring it to a halt, it would be nice to think we had made enough of an impact with what we do to at least slow the trade in wild birds.
Hopefully in next month's PsittaScene you can find out exactly how we ended up knee-deep in parrots, but needless to say, whatever the reasons for us being here today, we wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
So - what do we do for these birds, exactly? Well, we take captive wild 'pet' parrots and we provide the environment and stimulation necessary for them to learn to be wild birds. And then one or two years later, we cross our fingers and let them go. That's it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But for the most part, we honestly believe that whatever happens to these birds when they leave our care, they are way better off than they ever were in their captive conditions.
I'd love to introduce you personally to everyone in the programme but it would take up far too much of your valuable time. They are all amazing little personalities, with a history we can only know the half of.
In the flight cages right now we have 7 white-fronted (Amazona albifrons), 18 Red lored (Amazona autumnalis) and a Moluccan Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) (spot the odd one out) plus 2 crazy olive throated conures (Aratinga nana) out on soft release. Our blue-head Mealy (Amazona farinosa) and a red lored that have been out and about for a few months now, appear to have left home but we're hoping they'll pop back for a visit soon. This is a shot of Timba, one of our oldest residents. He’s been with us for 18 months now and was a 12-year cage veteran. He’ going to be a tricky one to release.
I'd also love to point you to our website to learn about our little guys, but slick and well organised as always, I have only just started compiling the case history pages for 2009. The Plan is to do one case per day, starting with the 28 parrots currently in and around the centre, and work my way back to January in time to be up to date for next year. I have a theory that if I tell enough people that I am going to do something, I feel I actually have to get on and do it. Of course, playing with parrots is infinitely more appealing than sitting at a computer... I'm sure you see my problem.
So, introductions over, I shall endeavor to keep you regularly posted on the progress of our little family, and in the meantime, will go and write at least one new page for the website. www.belizebirdrescue.com
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