It’s a dark morning in February at Punta Islita. Harry and Cooper, Duck and Chicken are just waking up at the macaw breeding center. And we’ve gotten up, too, before first light to make the rounds in the aviaries and give the macaws their best chance at success this breeding season.
The months-long season began a bit early this year for both the Scarlet Macaws and the critically endangered Great Green Macaws. By late January, we’d counted 10 beautiful porcelain-like eggs in the nest boxes. Three Scarlet Macaw eggs were infertile. But three Great Green Macaw eggs were ready to hatch!
By early February, the three little Great Greens — born to Duck and Chicken (because he makes funny chicken noises) — were gaining weight at a healthy clip. Scarlet Macaws Cooper and Harry were the proud parents of two chicks, and Serabi and Mufasa, who fostered two eggs from Cooper and Harry, had hatched one and were expecting the second chick to arrive any day.
So far so good — six more macaw chicks this season compared to this same time last breeding season. And no major complications or mishaps. No parents accidentally stepping on a young chick in the nest and injuring it. No chicks failing to thrive because dad didn’t get enough food to mom or mom didn’t get enough food to the little ones.
Plus the successful transfer of two eggs from one macaw pair (because four eggs is a lot for one mom and dad to handle) to a foster pair that took them under their wing as their own.
But it’s too early to tell if this breeding season the center will surpass its record in 2020 of 17 captive bred macaws. And it will be months before the chicks reach fledgling stage and are ready for release to the wild in late summer or early fall.
Until then, we work our daily schedule set to the biological clocks of the macaws, disturbing them as little as possible and leaving them to their own company and natural surroundings. We wake when they wake before sunrise, stock their feeders in the morning and afternoon with papaya, chickpeas and other fruits and seeds, and refill their water bowls with fresh water. All the while, we carefully observe and take notes on any breeding behaviors, signs of nesting, the number and condition of eggs laid and chicks hatched and any evidence of potential problems.
We’d rather leave the parenting to the parents, the real experts at raising macaws, but sometimes we can improve the chances for overall success with a little assist, such as moving eggs to foster parents or even rehabilitating an injured chick.
Before or after the midday heat and our own lunch break, we forage for coconut, mango or star fruit in the dry forest to supplement the macaws’ feedings, make string toys of wooden blocks for the birds to stimulate their senses or take care of any needed repairs around the aviaries.
We knock off work before sunset when the macaws go to sleep. We’ll be up again before sunrise tomorrow, measuring our success in wildlife conservation one egg, one chick, one beautiful macaw at a time, ready for release to the wild.
To hear more about these chicks, be sure to read our next blog coming soon!
