Postby TriP » November 26th, 2016, 9:03 pm
Local Parrot
"We had made arrangements with Wildlife Section to release the little Red-Bellied Macaw, Ara manilata, and a day this week was set. She had been brought to us as an impounded partly feathered baby and since there were no feathers yet on her breast we were unable to determine her sex.
She grew to be a beauty and a truly amazing little person with a spunky character and intense curiosity. She had been a good buddy to the Blue and Gold Macaw who was younger but eventually out-grew her in size. They were often seen grooming each other, that is, she grooming him on demand (his demand)!!!! They slept side by side on a high perch in the canopy of the flight cage, dry and away from draughts. Of course, like all the macaw family she was NOISY.
We were supposed to rendez vous with the Wardens at a designated place in the east, at 6 a.m.!!!!!
(Catch the bird, load the car, remember the water, secure the dogs, medicate the patients, feed the people in the flight cages, take my hat......) We left at 6.30am.
The traffic was standing so the Morne Coco road over the hill seemed a good option and was a breeze until the crest of the mountain. Looking down there was the familiar, interminable pattern of hoods in every shape and colour disappearing into the distance, and there was no turning back. Nearly an hour later the Maraval road loomed ahead.This seemed the cause of the block. Meanwhile the little person in the back had freaked out twice necessitating a stop and covering the carrier with a heavy towel.
Santa Cruz seemed the best choice until the village... Once again we were stuck and it was all heading for San Juan. It was'nt until we reached Calvary Hill turn-off that we were able to move freely, but by now it was 8.30am. Stuck in all that traffic, it seemed a pleasant thought to call Rea and, if she were free, and lived in the east, invite her to join us.
Reaching the meeting point exasperated and p....d-off, we were met by smiles and cheery faces, and snacks being passed out. I donated my two hard boiled eggs. We parked our cars and having heatedly discussed a plan to locate the troupes of Red-Bellied macaws, set off on foot. Heather Dawn Herrera had come with the Wardens armed with her camera.
The environment was amazing, but the day was really hot, and it was so late by now that the birds had retired to the seclusion of the deep forest. We followed several trails without seeing or hearing them and eventually took refuge, like the birds, in a patch of heavy forest where we slumped, already tired and dehydrated against tree trunks. The first thing to impinge on the senses was the intensity of the silence...we were surrounded by the incredible beauty of the forest, and the silence.
Noticing the plants growing around us was source of delight, and fortunately, we were accompanied by a Forrester, Mr. Edmund Charles, who is very knowledgeable and was happy to identify what we were looking at.
Finally it was 1pm.and we had to make a decision about the release. I insisted that she should be released in the presence of her kind since she had not associated with them since she was taken from her nest, but she would recognise their language. Though she had been fed many of the wild fruits that she would find, she had not seen them in their environment and she would have to take her ques from the other people of her kind. SO we had two choices: to abort and set another day, or, to wait through the afternoon until the birds emerged for their afternoon feed. We chose the latter but Edmund had to leave us.
By 4pm. we gathered up out kit and started out into the open. As we reached the clearing we heard the distinctive call of a Red Bellied Macaw in the forest behind us. Rea squeeled, and suddenly we felt that the arduous wait had been rewarded.
We went into the open following the calls and after much trekking and back-tracking. the Warden suggested that we might try taking the Macaw out of the carrier, in the hope that she would locate the calls and her people. She immediately jumped onto my shoulder and with delighted chattering watched as we continued down a trail. I picked berries as we passed and having tried them myself, gave them to her.
They were very acceptable. A sudden noise behind us and she took off in a fright, flying like a bullet ahead of us along the trail and then swerving in the direction of the forest where we heard the first call..
In a hurry we continued out into the open and circled towards the location where we assumed she had gone. We stood and watched. Minutes later we saw the first flocks circling into the tall Moriche palms in the area. We noticed her take off from a tree and land a distance away in the forest . She could see us but made no attempt to come back. With a pang of sadness I knew she had gone, but this is how it should be, she was in her own environment, with her kind, and it was for this that we had been preparing her.
Moving into an open area we sat down on the ground, now shaded by the long shadows of late afternoon,and watched the activities of the small flocks as they came and went, against the background of an incredibly beautiful evening sky."
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