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Buffon’s Macaw: Hatched to fly free

by Pauline James

As the ARA Project in Costa Rica prepares for their second release of Buffon’s Macaws (August 2012), they unfortunately have other things on their mind too...

The second release of captive Buffon’s Macaws (Ara ambiguous) into the wild, and due to begin in a few days’ time, is a momentous occasion for the ARA Project. Over the last 20 years they have built up the largest captive flock of Buffon’s Macaws in the world, and it now represents the macaw’s last chance to be saved from extinction in Costa Rica.

The worldwide population of the Buffon’s Macaw, distributed from eastern Honduras through Central America to Ecuador and western Colombia in South America, could now be as low as 1,800, significantly down on the 2008 estimate of 2,500. In Costa Rica, it is thought only 25-35 breeding pairs from a population of 200-250 wild ‘Great Green Macaws,’ as they are known locally, remain - tucked away in isolated pockets of rainforest.