What is Earth Hour?  On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations. Learn more about how Earth Hour began, what we’ve accomplished, and what is in store for 2010.

Learn about parrot training, parrot behavior and parrot conservation from famous parrot enthusiasts such as Steve Martin, Steve Milpach and Sam Foster.  This wonderful cruise will benefit the World Parrot Trust, a leader in parrot conservation and welfare.

Learn more about the Parrot Lovers Cruise at www.parrotloverscruise.com

or call  Carol at 520.226.2569

As if playing a poker hand, the State Council of China announced Thursday an aggressive carbon emissions reduction target to trump that announced by US President Barack Obama the day before.

In also confirming the attendance of Chinese Premier, Wen Jiaboa, at the UN Climate Conference, China announced it will bring to the discussion table a ‘carbon intensity’ reduction target of up to 45% on 2005 levels by 2020, i.e. emissions measured against its economic output.

Essentially what this means is that China’s emissions will actually continue to grow. However, the most rapidly expanding economy on the planet will lead the world with its concerted efforts to reign in its carbon emissions as it does. Read More

China’s State Council is reported to have said the targets would be reached through better research and development, clean coal technology, advanced nuclear energy and better transportation systems, along with legislation to encourage energy efficiency.

Achieving this ambitious target without compromising their economic growth will see China become a world leader in low-carbon economic development, setting a blueprint for other nations to keep global warming below critical thresholds.

Wild Kakapo Parrot Research

The Kakapo Parrot, also known as the Owl Parrot, is the heaviest parrot in the world.  Two other features make it extraordinary; it is also the only flightless parrot and the only nocturnal parrot known to man.  Native to New Zealand, the Kakapo Parrots, are critcally endangered.  As of November 16,  2009, there are 124 Kakapo Parrots in the wild.  With such a low gene pool, recovering this unusual, almost prehistoric parrot species has been difficult.

 How did this unique parrot become so endangered?  Prior to settlement, Native New Zealand had two mammals on the islands, bats.  Obviously not predators of the Kakapo Parrot.  With the introduction of the Polynesian peoples and European settlers, came predatory mammals such as rats, ferrets, cats, dogs and more.  The flightless, fearless Kakapoo parrot was defenseless against new mammals.  Not only that, the unusual parrots simply did not even know that they had to retreat from these foreign mammals.  Polynesian and European settlers prized Kakapo feathers and skin, as well as their meat.  Records show that European settlers sent the first found Kakap0 skin to England for examination.  The 1889 study found the Kakapo parrot to be the oldest, least developed parrot known to man, which only made collection of taxidermy specimens of this precious parrot more popular; diminishing their wild numbers yet further. 

By 1952, New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs became alarmed with the diminishing Kakapo Parrot population and thereby started  conservation efforts.  New Zealand terrain and mammal predators make recovery efforts of this beutiful parrot difficult, at best.  Wild parrots had to be moved to outlaying islands.  Kakapo Parrot recovery efforts thankfully have an international appeal.  PLEASE visit the KAKAPO RECOVERY PROGRAMME to find out what you can do to insure the Kapako Parrots’ survival.

So you want to help the Kakapo Parrot Recovery Programme, but you’re not sure how?

Well, the best opportunity as an individual is through fyour inancial support AND SPREADING THE WORD, . Saving endangered species is an expensive, long term business.

Please Donate any amount:

• $100 buys disease screening for one bird
• $250 buys a radio tracking aerial
• $1000 buys a portable incubator
• $1600 buys a radio-telemetry receiver

NO amount is too small – any donation will go directly towards kakapo parrot recovery – thank you SO much for your generosity!

PAYPAL DONATION: kakapovolunteers@doc.govt.nz

Send a cheque:

The Kakapo Recovery Programme
c/- PO Box 631
Wellington 6140
New Zealand

Please ensure you include your name and address if you would like to receive a donation receipt.

Please recycle

Have you ever wondered what happens to the used plastic that you unassumingly toss in the trash?

Did you know that it takes 1000 years for one plastic bag to break down?   Tossed out plastic including grocery bags and plasic bottles are ruining our environment and killing wildlife.

“Plastic bags kill animals. About 100,000 animals such as dolphins, turtles whales, penguins are killed every year due to plastic bags. Many animals ingest plastic bags, mistaking them for food, and therefore die. And worse, the ingested plastic bag remains intact even after the death and decomposition of the animal. Thus, it lies around in the landscape where another victim may ingest it.”  http://www.buzzle.com/articles/environmental-pollution-the-harmful-effects-of-plastic-bags.html

I stumbled over this page on a website today and quickly went quiet with the sheer sadness of it. It shows the remains of birds that have picked through trash found in the ocean and died from the plastic they have ingested; the young died from plastic fed to them by their parents.

What can you do?

Five Strategies to Reduce the Environmental Impact of Plastics

1. Reduce your use
Choose products that use little or no packaging. Select packaging materials that can be recycled into new packaging – such as glass and paper. If people refuse plastic as a packaging material, the industry will decrease production for that purpose, and the associated problems such as energy use, pollution, and adverse health effects will diminish.

2. Reuse containers
Did you know that refillable plastic containers can be reused about 25 times?  Choose to reuse containers rather than ss them out. 

3. Require producers to take back resins
Support legislation that gets manufacturers directly involved with plastic disposal and closing the material loop.  Reprocessing can be made easier by limiting the number of container types and shapes, using only one type of resin in each container, making collapsible containers, eliminating pigments, using water-dispersible adhesives for labels, and phasing out associated metals such as aluminum seals. Container and resin makers can help develop the reprocessing infrastructure by taking back plastic from consumers.

4. Legislatively require recycled content
Requiring that all containers be composed of a percentage of post-consumer material reduces the amount of virgin material consumed.

5. Standardize labeling and inform the public
The chasing arrows symbol on plastics is an example of an ambiguous and misleading label. Significantly different standardized labels for “recycled,” “recyclable,” and “made of plastic type X” must be developed.

Borrowed from:

Ecology Center
2530 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94702
Phone: (510) 548-2220 x233
email: erc@ecologycenter.org
Open 11am-6pm Tuesday-Saturday

We had a fun little outing today at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard, KS.  About 10 minutes from my home.  We got to see white tigers, Colous Monkeys, Red Panda’s, Clouded Leopards Red Kangaroo’s and a host of other animals, some displayed in interactive exhibits.  Of course, my favorite exhibit was the interactive Lorikeet’s. 

There were 4 species of Lories in the exhibit.  Rainbow, Purple-capped, Blue Mountain and Scarlett.  The kids sure got a kick out of feeding them nectar.  I’m wondering if it is our popular Goldenfeast NectarGold?!

Oh, BTW, Joe has promised to build me an outdoor aviary like this.  OMG.  I think it was about 40′ x 20′.  Definately bigger than my current bird room!  Really, I don’t think I want a permanent structure.  I’ve got my eye on some outdoor aviaries at www.CagesByDesign.com  I like the break down concept so that I can break them down to protect them from winter elements.  Since SpringAir now has Mosquito Traps, I’ll worry less about West Nile Virus.

Escaped Parrot that is Flighted

My blue fronted Amazon parrot, Tarah, does not have clipped wings. However like many birds that were clipped during the fledging process, he has never quite learned the kind of flight skills that might earn him the title of a “flyer”. I often said “He’s has his flight feathers, but he doesn’t fly.” One day I learned, the hard way, that this wasn’t exactly true.  

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

 I was visiting my parrots as I was moving from southern California to northern California. When I arrived I brought Tarah in his cage to my old bedroom. I opened the door to the cage to allow my bird some much needed free time. Before I knew it, he bolted off his cage, through the bedroom door, took a right and made his way down the hall. He then banked left and flew through the living room. At that very moment my father was just opening the sliding glass door to step out onto the deck. Guess who went through the door too? The deck was on the second floor, so my bird had two stories of lift to assist him on his grand flight down the fairway of the golf course behind the house. Thank goodness he was a green flying brick. He ran out of gas and slowly descended to the soft green grass before a tree offered its branches as refuge. Juiced by adrenalin, my feet barely touched the ground as I ran after my bird.

 I have always been very careful about the choices I make having a flighted bird in the house. But I was very surprised by the amazing flight my bird made on that day. Sometimes birds that we think will never fly do indeed fly. Sometimes birds that have flight feathers trimmed surprise us when feathers return. Sometimes experienced flyers get frightened or find themselves in unfamiliar territory. Whatever the situation, there are some strategies that can be very useful to recovering a bird that has flown to a location undesired by you. The following information is provided to prepare you for that day when your bird may find itself airborne and heading in the wrong direction. These strategies apply if you bird has no flight skills or is a world class flying athlete.

Bird is flying away

• Call to your bird loudly as he is flying- it may help him find his way back to you.
• As your bird is flying, do not take your eyes off of him. Note the last place you saw him, the level of his flight, how tired he looked. He may have landed in that area. (Radio or phone contact for a group of people searching can be very helpful in this situation. Grab your cell phone!)

 Searching for your bird

• If you have a group of people, spread out and circle the area you last saw him.
• If you cannot locate him, call to him. He may call back. Say words or sounds he knows or mimics. Most parrots are located by their screams.
• If he has another bird he likes, put that bird in a cage and bring it to the area you last saw him. Walk away from the bird in the cage. It might encourage the bird in the cage to scream. This may inspire the lost bird to scream. Keep talking to a minimum so you can listen for the scream.
• Look carefully in a limited area (within 1 mile) in the early stages of your search. Parrots usually do not go far unless, blown by the wind, chased by a bird of prey or extremely frightened.
• Keep in mind your parrot may see you before you see him. When this happens, parrots are sometimes very quiet. This may be because the parrot is more comfortable now that you are present.
• Despite some parrots bright colors, they can be very difficult to see in trees. Look for movement buried in the trees as opposed to your whole bird perched prominently on the tree.

I’m biased, in that I think all parrots are beautiful. But good grief. Take a look at this beauty! I’ve got an Orange Winged Amazon, Mandolina, a.k.a. “Mandy.” Even so, to be redundant, all parrots hold a special place in my heart. Well, all birds for that matter. I saw some wonderful sea birds on my snorkeling excursions.

But, check this out. The incredible efforts that we are going through as a nation to bring back the Puerto Rican Amazon Parrot. El Yunque Rainforest, just a few miles from my hotel, the Wyndham Rio Mar, offers a conservation program. Oh, I bet you didn’t know this either. El Yunque is in 2nd place as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Unbelievable! That is until you see it. OMG.

You know, sad statistic is that there are only about 295 Puerto Rican Amazons counting both captive and wild populations. But as a nation, we’re pulling it together to bring this wonderful parrot back. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains a El Yunque has a Puerto Rican Parrot nursery. Puerto Rico celebrates these parrots. In fact, the municipal of Rio Grande boasts statues of Puerto Rican Parrots at the entry and exit of the town off of Hwy 3. They are actively trying to re-introduce this beautiful parrot back into our only American Rainforest.

I don’t know about you, but I’m an avid ecology advocate. I want my son and his kids to experience a clean, diverse, and rich world. Including the Puerto Rican Amazon Parrot. So, as you read this blog update, please consider the journey that your particular parrots’ ancestors have had to endure. Respect their unique diversity and personalities. Appreciate and enrich their captive existence. So, if you have a parrot as a pet, here is what you can do:

1. Encourage and Promote Parrot Foraging and Enrichment Opportunities.
2. Make Your Parrot Part Of Your FLOCKILY (family and flock) each day.
3. Allow Your Parrot To Fly.
4. Feed Your Parrot The Diet It Needs:

Photo borrowed from 10,000 Birds