Mario Cohn-Haft remembers the sinking feeling he had when he realised the parrot he had come to see would probably not appear before him again. He had taken a bird-watching tour to the area where the very last wild Spix’s macaw(金刚鹦鹉), a blue parrot native to Brazil, was known to show itself. But that tour was the first he had led that couldn’t spot it. “I was one of the first people to experience it being extinct in the wild,” says Cohn-Haft, an ornithologist (鸟类学家). That was 20 years ago. No wild Spix’s macaws have been seen since.
But today there is hope. Spix’s macaws still exist. A small number of breeding pairs are currently living in captivity ( 圈 养 ). Conservationists are in the middle of a project to raise healthy birds and prepare them for release into the wild. The Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP) is leading current efforts.
Cromwell Purchase, a director at the ACTP, explains that the group plans to send 50 Spix’s macaws to rehabilitation facilities in Brazil, which are currently under construction. If all goes well, the birds will be shipped from Germany soon. The conservation team will first practice a technique for releasing the birds on a small flock of Illiger’s macaws. Then, in 2021, the Spix’s will be released with a small group of the Illiger’s, which will hopefully help them to adapt to the forest of Caatinga.
The real test will be whether the birds take to their native surroundings and whether they successfully breed and raise chicks in the wild. But Brazil wants the plan to work. “We know how to reintroduce parrots. There are now many publications and case studies that show we can get birds out into the wild and have them survive,” says Don Brightsmith, an expert in parrots. Brightsmith notes one important point — the birds must be shown how to raise chicks independently. Otherwise, any reintroduced population will quickly collapse.
Happily, Purchase says this is something he and his colleagues are working on. Should the birds flourish, the blue flash of a Spix’s wings might one day be seen again by locals and, perhaps, fascinated groups of bird-watchers.
【小题1】What do we know about Cohn-Haft’s bird-watching tour 20 years ago?| A．It turned out to be fruitless. |
| B．It was his last bird-watching tour. |
| C．It inspired him to study the Spix’s macaw. |
| D．It allowed him to spot the last wild Spix’s macaw. |
| A．Some Spix’s macaws being sent to their natural habitat. |
| B．Some Spix’s macaws and Illiger’s macaws being crossbred. |
| C．Some new Spix’s macaw rehabilitation facilities being built. |
| D．Some breeding Spix’s macaws being imported from Germany. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Confused. | C．Confident. | D．Concerned. |
| A．Case-studying wild Spix’s macaws. |
| B．Enabling Spix’s macaws to fly again. |
| C．Increasing the population of Spix’s macaws. |
| D．Training adult Spix’s macaws to be qualified parents. |
