Great Green Macaw Chicks in the Nursery

Great Green Macaw chicks being fed in the nursery by Chris Castles. The chicks are hatched for sole purpose of flock reintroduction in the wild. Some of the chicks hatched in Captive Breeding Facilities are parent-reared and some are hand-reared. Chris prefers chicks to be parent-reared but not all parents in captivity know how to take care of their chicks. Since macaws are often endangered species, Chris hand-rears a chick if there are signs the parents may be a risk to the successful fledgling of a chick and a valuable individual might be lost from the gene pool. Studies in our Scarlet Macaw release site Tiskita have shown that hand-rearing (under the right conditions only!) does not negatively affect surival and reproduction in the wild. For more information please see our website : http://macawconservation.wordpress.com/