Six blue-and-yellow macaws are gracing the skies of São Simão, in Brazil’s southeastern São Paulo state, after more than five decades of local extinction, Mongabay contributor Suzana Camargo reported.
Conservationists used a new technique to train captive-born macaw chicks (Ara ararauna), encouraging them to fly in the wild as early as 3 months of age. The method, called free flight, is commonly used to train pet birds, but had never been used for conservation before.
More than two years later, all six birds are still alive and well-adapted to the wild, even surviving adverse events such as a 2024 wildfire that swept through the region. Conservationists reported a 100% success rate in the scientific journal Birds.
“In most cases, when you open the cage, the release is final,” Donald Brightsmith, one of the world’s leading experts on parrots, told Camargo. “Often they fly for miles and end up getting lost, there are problems with predators or a whole host of other issues with traditional methods.”
The macaws, two males and four females, were bought as chicks from licensed breeders. They began flight training with a mobile cage when they were around 90 days old, roughly the time when macaw chicks normally start exploring beyond the nest in their natural habitat.
“As soon as the chicks have the slightest ability to fly, we encourage them to jump between two points to be fed,” Chris Biro told Camargo. Biro is a leading expert in free-flight training for pet birds and helped lead the reintroduction experiment. “Little by little, we increase the distance. Then we fly them out of the aviary and back again,” Biro said.
The traditional method for wild reintroduction of macaws involves raising the birds in captivity until they’re around 2 or 3 years old, and then releasing them. That method has been far less successful. One reintroduction project for Spix’s macaws (Cyanopsitta spixii) in the northeastern state of Bahia in Brazil released 20 birds in 2022. But only 10 successfully adapted to the wild.
“When they are raised in captivity, in a closed environment, these animals are even afraid of the sun. They’re afraid of the wind, of butterflies flying, of falling leaves,” biologist Humberto Mendes, a professor at Brazil’s Federal University of Alfenas also involved in the latest effort, told Camargo. “There are lots of things we can’t imagine, but they can cause a phobia and these animals can fly off in desperation.”
The next step is to test the technique with smaller birds, such as the red-shouldered macaw (Diopsittaca nobilis), which may be more vulnerable to predation.
“I remember my grandfather telling me about the macaws in this region. So, it’s impossible not to smile seeing them back,” Mendes added.
DATE . July/25/2025
