Macaw Tails

Macaw Tails Last fledgling of the breeding season 2019 On the 31st March 2019, Liz, our breeding season Field Leader and Shannan discovered a new nest in a dead tree on a trail adjacent to the river and named it Hades (pictured right with the chick at the entrance hole). They saw two scarlet macaws fly out of a cavity at the top of the tree, and later stretched a GoPro up to peer inside the cavity. They discovered a chick, but by this time it was nearing the end of the breeding season and all the other chicks had fledged, but this newly discovered chick was barely feathered, and seemed as if it was only 35 days old (meaning another 2 months to go!), which was very surprising. But then what was more surprising and bewildering, was the second time they went to check the nest, they saw two scarlets fly out of another cavity halfway down the tree. Sadly, when they stretched the GoPro into the first cavity, there was nothing, the chick had disappeared. But when they stretched the GoPro into the second cavity, they discovered a chick that was fully feathered and appeared ready to go! A couple weeks later, the new field leader for the project, Roshan, went to check out the nest, and saw the chick peering out of the nest, looking very eager to leave. He returned the next day (15th April) and with no chick at the entrance hole it appeared our final chick had fledged. And so that concluded the end of our breeding season 2019 here on the Tambopata Macaw project. Picture: Hades chick the day before fledgling . 1 The macaw non-breeding season Chicks have finally fledged. After five months, including one month of nest defence, almost one month of egg incubation plus three months of chick rearing, macaw parents have been finally “dismissed from chickduty”. But the story does not end there…at least not for scarlet macaws. Studies with radio collars done in Costa Rica by Chris Vaughn and collaborators showed that scarlet macaw fledglings are completely dependent on parents for the first eight weeks after fledgling and stay with them, day and night, for their first four months outside the nest. It is indeed, the most sensitive period for the whole macaw family. Even though youngsters are not chicks any more, they certainly still behave like “babies”. They beg loudly and vigorously to their parents, basically saying “feed me my food”! Macaw parents try by all means to keep them happy but quiet and not so obvious to predators. During the months of April to June, you can hear around the Tambopata Research Center, repeatedly “AAaa-Aaaa” sound that a macaw fledgling makes asking its parents for attention. Picture: A family portrait. Left to right. Father, mother and two fledglings (~ 5-monthold) from the 2019 breeding season. They were seen hanging around TRC, very close to their nest. Our research with macaw chicks showed that fledglings wings and tails are not fully grown when they leave the nest. As a consequence, they are not good flyers and manoeuvring in the dense rainforest is quite a challenge! They jump from tree branches flapping their wings, tail fully open trying to get to the closest branch but they do it so strongly that they end up 10 meters away from ideal destination, parents running behind them…making sure they are all right. Sometimes, they even free fall for a few meters, flapping their wings vigorously in their attempts to fly. Quite funny to witness! Little by little, macaw fledglings start learning how to be a macaw and survive in the jungle. They start eating by themselves, flying better, going to the clay lick and getting independent. Up to date, there are no recordings of how long they actually stay all together, fledglings and parents, as a family unit. But it is likely that family group gets less cohesive when the new breeding season starts, and new babies hatch. However, we have occasionally seen fledglings from the previous season hanging around with their parents when they are getting ready to nest again. What we are sure of is that “chick duty” does not end when chicks fledge. 2 How to tell a fledgling apart from adult macaws? Here we give you a few tricks to recognize young macaws. Key body parts: (1) Eyes: young macaws have greenish iris and adult macaws’ yellow iris. Besides, skin on the facial mask looks very “new” on youngsters and with a few black “like hair” feathers. (2) Tail: young macaws have a very short tail unlike adult macaws that have a long tail. Key behaviour: fledglings beg loudly. They pluff head & nape feathers, moving head up and down repeatedly asking for food. Vr. Adult macaw Liz Villanueva Paipay Fledgling macaw Liz Villanueva Paipay Left: Adult macaw tail vs. fledgling macaw tail Right: Adult macaw regurgitating fledgling 3 Colpa Clearing With all the chicks now flying around the Amazon, life on the Tambopata Macaw Project continues to help macaws and all the other wildlife they co-exist with. One task we conduct in the nonbreeding season, is a clearing of the COLORADO claylick (colpa). A clay lick is a cliff, usually right next to a river or creek, where birds and mammals go to eat dirt. Right: Red and green macaws and Blue-throated pipping Guan eating clay at COLORADO clay lick. Left: Howler monkeys enjoying an afternoon dirt-snack enjoying the freshly cleaned clay. Approximately 15 years ago the river changed its course and stopped flowing against the Colorado claylick, and so ever since, vegetation has ensued. This is part of the rainforest dynamics, not an unusual event, but without our intervention, the colpa would be consumed by vegetation. So, once a year we clear vegetation to keep the claylick alive and allow macaws and all other animals to continue enjoying the salty clay. Each year after completing the clearing, we have seen the birds come in greater numbers, a sign that the clearing helps them. Above and below you can see the before and after photos from this year’s clearing . 4 The Chicos in the Wild The “Chicos” were macaw chicks’ hand-raised by Eduardo Nycander’s pioneering team at the tourist lodge "Tambopata Research Center" in the early 90’s and then released into the jungle. They returned regularly to steal bread and other food from the kitchen and guests. For those that have visited the Tambopata Research Centre, I’m sure you had at least one encounter with a macaw at the lodge…most likely trying to steal your food! But it’s always nice seeing one in its natural habitat and being able to say Oh look, I know who you are, you’re …! Tabasco (has the white feather on the left wing) came and said hello to us at the claylick one morning, he perched in a tree right above us. He didn’t actually go to eat any clay; he flew back towards the lodge…probably to steal your cake…Tabasco loves his cake! Up: Tabasco after a short visit to research observation point in the clay lick. Left: Chuchuy, feeding her new fledgling from breeding season 2011. Right: Inocencio perched on this stem of palm fruits, his late mate, Chuchuy was also a common visitor to the lodge. 5