An official article on my trip will appear soon in Parrots Magazine and Papageien and then on this website

A belated happy new year to all! I have just returned from a whistle stop tour of Brazil and Chile - 14 days and 14 flights with landings en route. I went first via São Paulo to southern Chile to get information on the status of the Slender-billed Conure (Enicognathus leptorhynchus), a particular favourite of mine for some 20 years.

I then returned to Brazil, visiting the Projeto Arara Azul at the Pousada Caiman as well as the Pousada Arara Azul in the southern Pantanal, the capital of Brasilia and Praia do Forte in Bahia before returning to São Paulo to visit the zoo and meet up with friends in the scientific and avicultural communities there.

The new quarantine and breeding facilities for the Lear's and Spix's Macaws are planned on land provided at the EcoResort at Praia do Forte, which is also the home of the famous Tamar turtle and Humpback Whale projects. The quarantine facility intended for four pairs or 8 macaws, which is at present partially built, will occupy 5,000 sq. metres (1.25 acres) and the breeding facility will stand on 15,000 sq. metres (nearly 4 acres) of licuri palm covered land some two/three kilometres from the quarantine facility.

There are at present 13 Lear's Macaws (six pairs and a male) at São Paulo Zoo and 11 at Rio Zoo. The three held at present in the UK - one male, two females - will join this captive group inBrazil when finally released by HM Customs and Excise. The legal ownership of the Lear's Macaws held in Qatar has been signed over to Brazil by Sheikh Al-Thani, but will remain in his facility there for the time being.

There are also 7 Spix's macaws at São Paulo Zoo, which represents the entire captive population in Brazil. Following the closure of Maurizio dos Santos' breeding facility at Recife for personal reasons, there are no longer any Spix's Macaws known to be in private hands in Brazil.

Articles on my trip will appear soon in Parrots Magazine and Papageien and then on this website. Images of the trip will appear on the website when developed.