2008 Avian Research
Grants Program

AFA Helps Avian Research

In 2008, the AFA is soliciting contributions from members and friends to
provide grants to the following avian research projects:

1. Slender billed conure nesting ecology
2. Proventricular dilatation disease (PDD) research at Texas A&M University
3. Spix’s macaw project
4. Cuban parakeet nestbox project (in conjunction with Loro Parque Fundación)

Funding for the Avian Research Grants Program comes 100% from special
donations made for that purpose by clubs, affiliated organizations, business members, individual members, and friends of AFA. So please give generously so we can make our support to these projects as substantial as possible.

1.) Slender-billed conure nesting ecology

The slender- billed conure (Enicognathus leptorhynchus) is a common resident of remnants of old-growth Nothofagus forests found in the extensive lowland agricultural landscapes of southern Chile, where it suffers from conflicts with grain farmers and poaching of chicks for the pet trade.  Although the species is currently “protected” under Chilean law and considered Endangered, its numbers are declining and there is an almost complete lack of basic ecological data on both the species and its relationship to remnant old-growth forest fragments, even though the species lives in very accessible areas.  Chilean authorities have no idea of how past and current human activities are affecting the species, or any idea of how to effectively protect and manage the species within the altered landscape in which it now occurs.  Drs. Jaime E. Jiménez of Universidad de Los Lagos in Osorno, Chile, and Tom White of the US Fish and Wildlife Service are beginning a study together the necessary data to allow development of a species management plan.  They will use the AFA grant for the purchase of radio telemetry collars to track nesting slender-billed conures so as to better understand where they tend to establish their nests and what areas they use for foraging during this critical time in their life cycle.

2.)  Proventricular dilatation disease research, Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center, Texas A&M University

Proventricular dilatation disease, or PDD, is a viral disease of psittacines first described in the 1970’s in macaws.  Some of the best minds in veterinary research, such as Dr. Branson Ritchie and his colleagues at the University of Georgia, labored for nearly a decade attempting to isolate and identify a causative organism, with only some equivocal success.  The Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center at Texas A&M University has recently picked up the banner in the fight against PDD and has had some promising recent success in identifying proteins that appear to be associated with the disease and that may provide clues as to the nature of the causative organism.  Dr. Sharman Hoppes from the Schubot Center will be speaking at the AFA Convention on the progress they are making and what sorts of work the AFA grant will help promote.

 3.) Spix’s macaw project – captive propagation in Brazil

As virtually everyone knows, the Spix’s macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) is extinct in the wild and is being preserved and propagated through captive breeding programs located at Loro Parque in the Canary Islands, at the al-Wabra Wildlife Preservation Center in Qatar, and at IBAMA facilities in Brazil.  Hopefully one day there will be a sufficiently large population in captivity that the birds can be reintroduced back into the wild.  Each Spix’s individual is precious with less than 70 existing throughout the world, and extensive health examinations and, if necessary, treatments are periodically performed on the birds in all of the facilities. This AFA grant will go to Dr. Yara Barros and the Brazilian governmental agency IBAMA to help support veterinary care for the birds in the Brazilian captive breeding program.

 4.) Artificial nestboxes for the catey, or Cuban parakeet (jointly with Loro Parque Fundación)

Cuban conservation biologist Maikel Cañizares and colleagues have been studying the natural history and nesting behavior of the Cuban parakeet (Aratinga euops) since 1998.  Once common throughout Cuba, the catey (as it is known in Cuba) has been reduced to scattered locations within the island due to removal of chicks from nests and habitat destruction.  Cañizares and his team have identified the locations of remaining breeding populations of the parakeet, have described its natural history and habitat requirements, and since 2005 have studied increasing nesting success in a protected area on the southern part of the island known as Alturas de Banao by the provision of artificial nesting cavities.  So far the most successful models have been made from hollowed out palm logs, but these last only 1 or sometimes 2 years.  PVC nestboxes were accepted by a number of other cavity nesting species but not by the Cuban parakeet.  With our grant and with additional help from Loro Parque Fundación, the researchers will continue their search for a design for a longer lasting acceptable nestbox for this threatened species.

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