Spix's Macaw : The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird

Rating:
Summary: Very reasonable logic and a good read for the parrot owner
Review: Personally, I see a lot of the behavior of many of the environmentalist groups to be simply ridiculous and I think that's an important point for me to make in offering a review of this book. I'm not necessarily sympathetic to many of the ideas and policies of Greenpeace, PETA, Earth First or the like. I do keep a captive-bred blue and gold macaw and in casual hobby reading, I became aware of the conservation efforts being made to save the Spix's macaw some time ago.

There are two strong features about this book that really stand out in my mind and make it worthy of a five star rating. Most importantly, it's a very reasonable, logical account of the problems leading to the bird's extinction in the wild which I believe can be appreciated by almost anyone. While a story like this one can't be dealt with completely devoid of emotion, the book isn't a ridiculous, simple-minded, political work designed to preach to the converted. I feel the author remained as neutral as practically possible in his assessment of the situation and that he offers a book that could easily be stomached by people who simply don't care one bit.

The second thing that really brought this book home for me is that I believe it's a good selection for anybody who keeps parrots - macaws in particular. I've read so much garbage about parrot psychology in CPW, all the parrots as pets books and the like that I figured I just wasn't going to completely get it. This book offers many very interesting insights into the ways parrots may think as well as into their social interactions in and out of their flocks.

If you're loosely considering reading this one and you, like me, are not sold on the environmental "cause", please check this one out - it's well worth the short time it'll take to read.

Rating:
Summary: So This Pirate Walks into a Bar....
Review: This is a really good case study about the survival (or demise) of a particular species. It should be of particular interest to hard-core parrot fanciers, as well as to anyone concerned about the captive animal trade or vanishing habitat.

The author covers a lot of ground, but I think the book could have gone into greater depth with some of the issues he brings up. For one thing, he talks about rare birds that are in private collections, and how various government bodies are pretty much powerless to do anything about individuals who may or may not know what they're doing with their breeding projects. Sometimes groups that are desperately trying to save the bird (and more broadly, other fauna) end up working at cross-purposes. Still, I felt that this was underplayed. What SHOULD a private citizen do if he/she comes across a suspected illegal bird? When there are only a few viable breeding pairs left, each individual bird becomes so much more important to the survival strategy. On the other hand, what happens to such a bird if it's confiscated by an agency that then turns it over to someone who has no idea what they're doing? An intelligent bird like a macaw could easily be permanently traumatized by that.

The fact is, our War on Drugs has leeched away any of the resources that might otherwise be spent on going after animal smugglers. But that's another story.

Mr. Juniper also includes some interesting parrot lore...another strand of the book I thought was a little light.

Because we're so familiar with "pet" birds, I don't think there is much awareness about the plight of wild parrots. In that sense, this book is definitely worth a read.