Who’s
a pretty rare Polly? A report in The Mail on Sunday published on
This extraordinary
photograph is set to knock the parrot world off its perch.
Experts believe it
shows a South American Glaucous Macaw, a breed which
has not been seen for more than 100 years.
They claim it may be
the only survivor. Conservationists were convinced that the magnificent bird
had been driven to
extinction by collectors entranced by its
beautiful plumage.
A British parrot
breeder says he has accidentally uncovered the Glaucous
Macaw after a mix-up over its identification
25 years ago. Harry Sissen spotted the mistake last month after importing what
he thought was a pair of rare Lear’s
macaws on loan from a zoo. When he
inspected the birds at Customs he realised that the female was the “extinct”
Glaucous Macaw.
His amazing discovery
will stun the parrot world, which had added the Glaucous
Macaw to the long list of creatures
wiped from the Earth. Although there have
been rumours that a colony lives in the remote forests of
evidence has ever emerged to confirm that
they were still alive.
“I was shocked when I
first saw the bird as I immediately realised that it was a Glaucous
Macaw,” said the 53 year-old
Glaucous given by experts at the beginning of the
century.”
Mr Sissen,
one of Europe’s most successful breeders of rare parrots, is convinced that the
bird is back from oblivion.
“What clinches it for
me is the size of the bird. Records say that the Glaucous
Macaw is smaller than its near relative,
the Lear’s. And when you compare the
two birds you can see that the Glaucous’s breast
feathers are sea blue rather
than bright blue, its beak has a pale
strip and the skin around the eyes and beak is a paler yellow.”
News of the discovery
is bound to spark a furious debate over the bird’s identification. Mr Sissen’s claims are backed by
two leading parrot breeders, who have
studied the eight Glaucous Macaw skins in museums
around the world.
Joe Cuddy and Robin
Pickering, both 33, have examined the bird and are
adamant that it is a significant find. I have no
doubt that it is a Glaucous,”
said Mr Pickering.
But the zoological
department of the
Glaucous Macaws, was undecided when asked by
The Mail on Sunday to identify the bird from photographs. “The head is
reminiscent of Glaucous,
but according to our description the feathers around the lower face should be a
sooty colour,”
said scientific officer Peter Colston. “It is not
clear-cut. I would like to see the live bird.”
The bird, worth at
least £ 50,000 on the black market, is being kept at a secret quarantine
station before it is released next
week. It was imported from
But for Mr Sissen, who has several of the world’s rarest parrots in
his collection of 450 birds, the Glaucous Macaw is
priceless.
“It is like asking
someone how much they would pay for a dodo,” he said. “The birds are on loan
for breeding over the next
three years, maybe they will produce some
youngsters.”
But now the search
begins for a male Glaucous Macaw. There is a slim
chance that there may be another in a private collection
that has been misidentified.
Mr Sissen
said his Glaucous Macaw could not be returned to the
wild as it has spent 25 years in captivity and the flight feathers
have not grown, which would prevent it
escaping from predators.
END
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