Babies!

Here's a quick slideshow of the latest photos taken of our five 2011 Red Browed Amazon babies.  Less than a month old, already showing feather pins and color!  Quite a lovely bunch...Below the slideshow is a video of the babies enjoying lunch.  Boy, can they eat!!

Lab on Wheels Sent to Dominica!

Last week, RSCF sent an RV to the Caribbean island of Dominica for use as a mobile parrot lab.  The vehicle will be posted at the Parrot Research Centre in the Botanical Gardens and will be available for the Parrot Research Team.   RSCF will outfit the mobile lab with an incubator, brooder and basic lab equipment so the team can have an isolated, mobile space to work with the island's two endimc parrot species, the Imperial Amazon and the Red-Necked Amazon.   

RSCF would like to thank the Batchelor Foundation and Tropical Shipping for their continued support, we couldn't have done it without you!

Bath Time!

When it gets hot, we all like to cool down with a nice shower, especially the Red-browed Amazon parrots. Here are some shots of bath time via shower by hose. The birds love this, and end up soaked to the skin. As you can see, they hang upside down, spread their wings and thoroughly enjoy themselves!

2010 Babies!!

We thought you would like to see some photos of this year's baby red-browed Amazon parrots. The "Fantastic Five" are now fully weaned and living most of the time in their new flight cage. We bring them inside during the hottest part of the late afternoon and overnight. Soon they will be completely acclimated to thier new enclosure and will stay out full time. When we bring them inside, they are usually hot and tired. So, you will see in the last few photos that they enjoy a good bath to cool off!

We will soon know the sex of each bird, we sent off some feathers for DNA sexing just last week. We'll keep you posted!

Summer and More!

Well, summer is finally here, and the farm is alive with activity. We've been so busy we haven't had time to post lately! Our parrot breeding season has been extremely successful, with five new baby redbrows almost weaned and ready to take flight in the new enclosure we just built for them. We have four baby bongo on the ground and running, and our pygmy marmoset colony has increased as well, with new babies everywhere. All are doing well, more photos to come soon!

We also have some new and returning staff members on our team. Neil Grossman, who was our summer intern last year, is back for the month of July. We're happy to have him and put him to work immediately!

We also have welcomed Tony Sheets, our new Director of Operations. He will be managing our 30 acre facility, which will be a BIG help. Tony is from Daytona Beach, and has been a volunteer with RSCF over the past few years, helping out with our overseas program on Dominica and lending a hand on the farm whenever he could. We are very happy to have him as a permanent addition to the staff! Tony will be residing on-site, so we welcome him to his new home!

Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to, many more to come!

Photo Op!

Thought you might enjoy some new photos from around the Farm. Spring is here, and all the critters are very happy to welcome the warmer weather. This past winter was the longest and coldest in many years. We are so glad to see longer, warmer days! We've been busy, planting trees and sprucing up the property. The aviary is especially active right now, with the Red-browed Amazon parrots beginning their breeding season. We check nest-boxes for eggs every morning--tricky business, because not only might there be eggs in the box, but also a very angry parrot! We then artificially incubate the eggs, and in 26 to 28 short days a chick hatches! We'll keep you posted....

We also have a new addition to our bongo herd. Last month a new baby was born with a very unusual stripe pattern near his rear. This squiggly line has earned him the name "Doodle". He's a very fiesty young bull and already running with the big boys.

The Perfect Gift!!

Seasons Greetings,

Are you looking for that last, perfect Holiday gift for someone special? Consider giving a truly meaningful gift--a donation in a loved one's name to the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation. Simply visit us online and click the "Donate Now" button. Your gift will help support crucial wildlife conservation programs. You can specify a program or species to support--just e-mail a note with the person's name and address to the donation form, along with any specifics you'd like. Support bongo for Billy or parrots for Pam! We will send a written acknowlegement to the person named in the donation, along with an image of a Bongo Antelope, Amazon Parrot, Pygmy Marmoset, or Golden-lion Tamarin (you choose). Simply include your choice in your email to info@rarespecies.org. This is a gift you will love to give, and love to recieve! Thanks in advance for your much-needed support.

P.S. Please pass this on to your friends and family!

Happy Holidays,

Rare Species Conservatory Foundation
www.rarespecies.org

A Day in Pictures...

The staff took some great photos documenting an average day here at RSCF. We made it into a nice slide show--take a look!

Animal Planet Star Visits Parrots

Earlier this week RSCF Director, Dr. Paul Reillo, spent the day filming a flock of ferel green-cheek Amazon parrots with Animal Planet host, Nigel Marven. Nigel has become a great friend of RSCF, and recently traveled to the Caribbean island of Dominica with Dr. Reillo to get a first-hand look at our conservation field programs and tour the "Nature Island".

While in Florida, Nigel gathered research and film footage for an upcoming documentary on exotic wildlife living in Florida. While in the Sunshine State, Nigel traveled to the Everglades to film wild pythons and green iguanas, and finished his trip with a day spent monitoring parrots with RSCF. We'll keep you posted regarding film release dates!

Parrotphenalia

It has been a crazy few days, folks. Began last Thursday when RSCF staff visited a local feral population of green-cheek Amazon parrots. These birds are originally from Mexico, and are now endangered. The wild population in Florida is derived from escaped imports dating back to the 1940s. These birds are now an important group, one of the largest wild populations left. We (RSCF) have been studying this group for years, filming within nest cavities using a telescoping camera probe, banding babies, etc. We estimate up to 200 birds may be in this group. Every year we monitor nest cavities, which are in Australian pine trees. Last Thursday we discovered one of the active nests (had two babies in it) was empty...with a wire trap in the tree. The babies had been poached (stolen from the nest). WHAT A MESS! The trap was well-made, the thief obviously has done this before. Devestating loss to the flock and the police were called, reports made, and eventually the story hit the local press. We've been on the phone ever since.

Monday we got a call from a local pet shop--they had the babies. Someone tried to sell them to the shop, but the owners knew better and refused to buy them. Faced with the prospect of having to care for wild, baby parrots no one would buy, the thief simply left them at the pet shop, and then the owners contacted us. So, the happy ending is that we have the babies--tired, skinny and hungry. They are not fully flighted and cannot eat seed yet. We are hand-feeding them three times a day. We hope to rehabilitate them quickly (within a month or so) so we can return them to the flock before they leave the area (usually around the end of July). If we miss that window they will have to remain in captivity until the flock returns next year to breed (usually around April).

It breaks my heart to see these birds in a cage, and I am so disgusted by the entire event. Why must we constantly try to put a dollar value on wildlife? If the pet shop owners hadn't been decent, understanding people, these birds would have spent their lives trapped in a cage, miserable. What gives humans the right to take wild animals of any kind and force them into a life imprisoned for our amusement? Why can't we appreciate wildlife as it is naturally? I can tell you from personal experience, nothing compares to seeing a parrot in full flight, in the forest, screaming its lungs out as it flies FREE. I can only hope that humans can learn to appreciate wild animals in wild places, not in cages and pens, not as PERSONAL PROPERTY.

These babies have a chance now, we will do all we can to get them fat, happy and FLYING with the flock as soon as possible. We'll keep you posted...