Golden Conure Project

Golden Conure suffering because of human activities

With a population numbering in the low thousands this endangered parrot has suffered losses due to habitat loss and fragmentation from road construction and illegal mahogany harvesting. Trapping for the live bird trade, and hunting for food and sport and to curtail crop damage also take their toll.

The World Parrot Trust has been involved supporting active conservation and research with the Golden Conure since 1999. Given the dearth of information on the bird's behavioural and reproductive patterns, WPT resolved to fund new research, spearheaded by one of Brazil's premier parrot experts, Dr. Carlos Yamashita. In his two months of research Dr. Yamashita set out to:

• identify and map nesting trees (or snags)
• observe and document group behaviour
• analyse blood samples to determine the degree of relatedness among members of small flocks

The loss of roosting and nesting trees has necessitated the purchase of key habitat to preserve breeding areas. WPT and the Golden Conure Survival Fund begun by Glenn Reynolds have helped raise a total of US $100,000 to help this species.

Initial work begun by Dr. Carlos Yamashita and has been continued by biologist Toa Kyle. From 2005-2007 Toa Kyle and Thiago Orsi conducted surveys and other important ecological information related to feeding, nesting and flock dynamics. In December 2006, the Trust awarded $3,000.00 for a research fellowship for Thiago Orsi Laranjeiras, a masters student of INPA (Instituto de Pesquisa da Amazonia) to continue this research. In the future WPT hopes to support more field research and incorporate captive breeding and release methods into the programme.

Learn more about the efforts underway to save this beautiful parrot by visiting: parrots.org/projects/golden_conure/