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Rare Kakapo to be Artificially Inseminated
Thursday, November 15 2007 @ 11:46 PM UTC
Contributed by: Paul Brennan
Views: 3274
General News By DEIDRE MUSSEN - Sunday Star Times | Monday, 12 November 2007

The first artificial insemination of a rare New Zealand bird is planned this summer in a bid to boost kakapo numbers.

Low population numbers have kept the critically endangered nocturnal parrot perilously close to extinction for the past 30 years, since a small breeding population was discovered on Stewart Island. All 86 kakapo, the world's heaviest parrot, known to exist live on offshore predator-free island sanctuaries in the South Island.

Kakapo recovery programme senior technical officer Daryl Eason said he turned to artificial insemination after the last breeding season two years ago was hampered by high levels of egg infertility. Only four kakapo chicks were born from 26 eggs laid on Whenua Hou (Codfish Island), near Stewart Island, and 60% of eggs laid were infertile.

"It wasn't too flash," Eason said.

Kakapo nest only every few years when enough fruit is on the trees.

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Most Recent Post: 11/16 04:07AM by Paul Brennan

Exotic Parrots Return to Cook Islands
Saturday, October 06 2007 @ 01:50 AM UTC
Contributed by: MikeSchindlinger
Views: 2980
Conservation WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Two centuries after a dazzlingly feathered parrot called the Rimitara lorikeet disappeared from the Cook Islands, a breeding colony of the birds has been re-established with the help of the islands' royalty.

About 100 years ago after the parrots died out on the Cook Islands, the queen of Rimitara Island in French Polynesia to the east issued a royal decree that locals say saved the last naturally occurring population of the lorikeet, one of the Pacific's most beautiful parrots.

The decree prevented lorikeets from being caught and removed from Rimitara.

But now her royal counterpart, Queen Rongomatane of Atiu in the Cook Islands, has accompanied 27 of the birds on the journey back to her island.

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Famous African Gray, Alex, dies
Tuesday, September 11 2007 @ 03:02 AM UTC
Contributed by: Paul Brennan
Views: 3641
General News Alex, a parrot who had a way with words, dies

By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: September 10, 2007
New York Times

He knew his colors and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and with his own brand of one-liners he established himself in TV shows, scientific reports, and news articles as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird.

But last week Alex, an African Grey parrot, died, apparently of natural causes, said Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Brandeis University and Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of its life and published reports of his progress in scientific journals. The parrot was 31.

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Squawk! Parrots invade Park Slope, Brooklyn
Friday, August 31 2007 @ 03:59 PM UTC
Contributed by: MikeSchindlinger
Views: 3084
General News By Dana Rubinstein -The Brooklyn Paper

A parrot on Eighth Avenue and 14th Street in Park Slope.

Brooklyn’s legendary Monk parrots have migrated to Park Slope.

A flock of about five bright green tropical parrots — an offshoot of the borough’s legendary wild parrot community in Midwood — has been spotted hanging out in a tree on the corner of 14th Street and Eighth Avenue.

Brett Cleaver, who lives on nearby 13th Street, has seen the bright green birds twice in a matter of four days.

“They were cute,” said Cleaver. “It seemed like there were two couples, and an odd man out. A couple of them were kissing. People were stopping and looking — it was certainly a spectacle.”

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Fines for parrot killings in AU
Wednesday, July 25 2007 @ 05:28 AM UTC
Contributed by: MikeSchindlinger
Views: 2326
General News Mark Russell
July 22, 2007

AUSTRALIA'S biggest almond grower will pay out more than $56,000 after admitting responsibility for the massacre of 41 rare regent parrots.

When the company, Select Harvests, was charged over one of the worst killings of threatened birds in Victoria, it blamed two of its workers, sacked them, and vowed to defend the charges. On Tuesday, it pleaded guilty to three charges in the Robinvale Magistrates Court.

Kyndalyn Park Pty Ltd — a wholly owned subsidiary of Select Harvests — was convicted and fined $15,000 on one count of destroying protected wildlife and a total of $1000 without conviction on two counts of breaching their wildlife control permit. The company was also ordered to pay court costs of $40,589.

The executive director for biodiversity and ecosystem services with the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Ian Miles, said the killings were a serious matter.

"This case serves as a warning that shooting protected wildlife will not be tolerated in Victoria," Mr Miles said.

Only about 2400 regent parrots survive in the wild, with half that number in Victoria.

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U.S. Border cops seize parrots hidden in duffel bag
Saturday, June 30 2007 @ 03:40 PM UTC
Contributed by: MikeSchindlinger
Views: 2058
General News PHOENIX (Reuters) - U.S. Border police found ten Amazon parrots stuffed in the duffel bag of a man crossing from Mexico, authorities said on Thursday.

Customs and Border Protection officers at the San Ysidro port of entry, south of San Diego, Calif., found the small, green birds hidden in a bag in a pickup truck on Tuesday, and arrested the driver, a U.S. citizen.

CBP spokesman Vince Bond said the birds were placed in agricultural quarantine and transferred to the Department of Agriculture's veterinary services.

He said officers at two ports of entry south of San Diego had seized 152 wild birds since October 1 last year.

"This is an enforcement issue we take very seriously. We are doing our utmost to keep dangerous viruses and diseases from entering the United States," Bond said.

San Ysidro is the busiest border crossing in the world. Inspectors more frequently discover drugs and undocumented migrants smuggled from the sprawling industrial city of Tijuana, in Mexico.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2843157720070628

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