News from Loro Parque, Tenerife (June 2009)

Dr. Matthias Reinschmidt, Curator Loro Parque Fundacion, Tenerife, Spain

Nearly 600 young parrots of 116 different species and subspecies have been ringed till the beginning of June at Loro Parque Fundación.

We are especially happy about the hatch of five young Plum-crowned Parrots (Pionus tumultuosus) - a subspecies of Pionus that is hardly found in captivity. All youngsters have been taken into the Baby-Station of Loro Parque in order to hand raise them. These rare  chicks seem to be doing their best not to help us, but our team is doing a great job rearing them, and they are all developing well so far. This breeding success has been an important step towards raising the number of specimens in Europe so as to maintain this parrot species long term in captivity.

Finally, although with a little bit of delay in comparison to last year, our Lear’s Macaws (Anodorhynchus leari) have laid eggs. Our most successful breeding pair so far, which produced five of the previous seven young, began to produce eggs at the beginning of June. Because this year the nests have been supplied with cameras during the non-breeding season, the eggs could be seen shortly after they had been laid, and taken to a more experienced pair of Green-winged Macaws (Ara chloroptera). The same pair of Lear’s Macaws has been very restless and has damaged, we don’t know whether on purpose or not, some eggs of the clutch. This is why we had to take the precautions to install the cameras and to take away the eggs immediately after being laid. As we could see on screen, the behaviour of the parents in the nest box has not been so careful. The material used as nest-litter first was eagerly chewed, and then taken out of the nest cavity as dogs like to do until the ground was visibly white. Both parents feed each other, and fool around to play, including laying on their backs and rolling around, which doesn’t make it a big surprise if one or other of the eggs gets broken. Now we hope that with the new camera system the breeding output in 2009 will increase even more in comparison with 2008, when two pairs produced four youngsters.  

As reported some time ago, a pair of Yellow-collared Macaws (Ara auricollis) bred in March for the first time after a long breeding pause. From a fertile clutch of three eggs, two of them hatched, and both chicks have been raised successfully in the Baby Station of Loro Parque and were recently moved into its “Kindergarten Aviary”. There they learn to socialize with other young and older chicks of different parrot species, to fly and to eat independently (although they also still get fed by the hand-rearers). This type of hand-rearing has given very good results, and numerous parrots reared with this method are now parents too, not only able to lay eggs but also to rear their chicks by themselves.

Thus, the Yellow-collared Macaws are, together with the Blue-headed Macaws (Ara couloni), amongst the first smaller macaw species to start breeding. Traditionally, the breeding period of the macaws in Tenerife is in the second half of the year. The Blue-throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis) is one exception amongst the bigger macaw species, with the first youngsters growing in the Baby Station at the moment. Another nice picture is the plastic container in which five little Major Mitchell Cockatoos (Cacatua leadbeateri) are currently developing. Although they still don’t have all their feathers, they are proudly raising their crests every time somebody gets near. 

Photo 1 (3816): Two nearly fledged Yellow-collared Macaws with two same-aged Blue-headed Macaws in their artificial nest in the Baby Station of Loro Parque.

Photo 2 (3847): Three young Blue-throated Macaws in the Baby Station of Loro Parque.

Photo 3 (3812): Five young Major Mitchell Cockatoos being hand raised in the Baby Station of Loro Parque.