First steps towards reintroducing the Green and Red Macaw (Ara chloropterus) to Argentina

VOLPE, NOELIA L.; DI GIACOMO, ADRIÁN S; BERKUNSKY, IGOR

Washington DC

Congreso; North American Ornithological Congress VI; 2016

The Green and Red Macaw, Ara chloropterus, became extinct from Argentina in the 19th century. In order to restore its ecological role as consumer and disperser of large fruits and seeds we developed a project to reintroduce this species in the Ibera Wetlands, northeast Argentina. In September 2015 we started training a group of seven macaws, promoting fruit search behavior, consumption of native fruits and flight. After one-month stay in a pre-release cage, the group was set free in late October 2015. In our first release attempt, we flushed the group and six of the macaws flew out of the cage. A week later, and after re-capturing the six previously released macaws, we tried a different approach, letting them exit at their own pace. Of the seven released birds, 2 were predated by a wildcat on days 4 and 5 after the second release, one macaw was found dead and we were not able to determine the cause, three macaws flew outside of our telemetry equipment?s detection range and one macaw was recaptured. We show details of this first release experience, discuss the causes that lead to a high number of losses and present the new pre-release protocol being currently used, which addresses these issues.