Timaru Bird Club, New Zealand

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Timaru is set to get a slick new aviary thanks to the efforts of the Timaru Bird Club and Timaru Council. The new aviary was approved on 9 February this year after lots of local lobbying. Construction will start on 1 March and take two months.

The project was funded using $100,000 of council money while the Timaru Bird Club made up a $25,000 shortfall. The club reached its fundraising target in half the time council gave them, showing how much support the project had amongst members of the public – who even wrote letters of support to the local newspaper about it. Fundraising efforts kicked off during the Christmas period with a $10,000 donation by the club and the rest was raised through raffles, barbeques and donations. It is certainly a great effort.

Source: Pat Rule, Vice President, Timaru Bird Club, New Zealand.

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News from the World Parrot Trust

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Over the past four years, the WPT’s ongoing efforts to stop wild-caught bird trade has led to the confiscation of almost 5000 parrots from illegal trade, with over 2,000 of these rescued birds already released back to the wild! Donations have assisted greatly in aiding this effort.

In 2011 the need for intervention rose dramatically but World Parrot Trust worked hard to:

Rehabilitate – WPT partners rescued hundreds of chicks and adults in Bonaire, Ecuador, Brazil, Uganda, Cameroon and Mexico
Release – WPT supported the release of hundreds of parrots in Costa Rica, Uganda, Cameroon, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico and Bonaire
Educate – WPT assisted with outreach efforts to educate school children and adults in Uganda, Honduras and Nepal
Legislate – WPT encouraged the adoption of a temporary moratorium on the importation of wild-caught Grey Parrots into South Africa
Support – WPT provided technical, medical and logistical backing for efforts in Uganda, Bonaire and Mexico

World Parrot Trust works with a diverse range of species:

Grey Parrots, Red-masked, Orange-fronted, Cactus and Brown-throated Conures, Scarlet, Blue and Yellow and Great Green Macaws, and Yellow-shouldered, Red-lored, Blue-fronted and Vinaceous Amazons.

Regrettably, many more birds will need help in the coming year if they are to be returned safe and free back to the wild.

Donations are an integral part of the ongoing work of the WPT.

Click for more information and to help save more birds in 2012.

Source http://www.parrots.org/flyfree

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News from Parrots International

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The African Grey Parrot Project

This project has been created to better the understanding of the ecology and natural productivity of the African Grey Parrot in relation to its exploitation for the pet trade.

PI has committed to provide $10,000 per year for the next three years in support of the

program of research being developed by Dr Stuart Marsden of the Manchester Metropolitan University on this scientifically neglected but economically important bird species. This study will bring new insights into the management and control of trade in the species throughout its range, which is regarded as essential for both conservation and welfare reasons.

Click to donate to the African Grey Parrot Project

Source http://parrotsinternational.org/

Graphics by Tony Sanchez

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Birds Use Smell To Identify Their Kin

Thursday, September 29, 2011

The University of Chicago and Chicago Zoological Society believe penguins use smell to determine if their potential mate is a relation, suggesting birds may have a more highly developed sense of smell than previously thought.

Scientist Heather Coffin said ‘smell is likely the primary mechanism for kin recognition to avoid inbreeding within the colony’.

Penguins live in colonies made up of thousands of birds and they live in monogamous pairs – making them ideal subjects of this study. Penguins have the ability to find their mate after days of travelling foraging food in the ocean and despite the large community groups.

This is the first study to provide evidence for odour-based kin discrimination in birds. Research on other sea birds has shown that smell helps guide birds to their home territory and helps them forage for food. Other research has shown that birds could use sound and sight to recognize each other, but no other studies have shown that smell might be used in connection with kin recognition.

Researchers took odour samples from glands near the penguin' tails, where an oil that the birds use for preening is secreted. They put the oil on cotton swabs and rubbed the odour inside dog kennels, similar to the enclosures penguins at a zoo use for their nests. They also put the odour on paper coffee filters and placed them under mats inside the kennels.

When the penguins were released to the area containing the kennels, the researchers found that the penguins spent more time in the kennels with familiar odours. The penguins were able to distinguish between the odours of birds they spent time with and the odours of unfamiliar penguins.

The ability of birds to be able to recognise familiar scents and thus be guided to their home territory also has potentional value to naturalists, 'You could imagine that if you were trying to reintroduce birds to an area, you could first treat the area with an odour the birds were familiar with. That would make them more likely to stay'.

Story taken from Futurity, Friday 23 September 2011

http://www.futurity.org/top-stories/birds-may-identify-their-kin-by-smell/