FEATURE I know from the time on my photographs


that we watched them for well over one hour. Some of them were perched in trees several hundred metres away but they kept returning to fly over us -- prolonging those precious moments that were the highlight of countless parrot watching trips in many parts of the tropics.


How fortunate was I to see more than ten


times the 31 Lear’s that the pioneering spirit of Helmut Sick was rewarded with! I would never forget this hour and I vowed that I would do something to try to help the survival of Lear’s Macaw.


It needs our help now because of the


severe drought that has affected the area which is believed to be negatively affecting population growth. It also affects farmers whose reduced corn crops might result in more macaws being


shot. In our relatively affluent society, we can have no idea what it is like to be dependent on a single crop -- either corn or the licuri palm -- and the weather. When I returned from Brazil I contacted Les


Rance and told him of the need for more funding to assist the survival of this macaw. There are several strands to its conservation projects -- and all of them are costly. When Les gave me the news that the conservation committee of the


BIRD SCENE 23


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