17 birds are still found in Switzerland. The youngest pairs to lay fertile eggs were 10 years of age. Currently there are no known survivors of the species outside of captivity. Most of his birds died of poisoning in the 1970s. [56], In July 2015, the number of Spix's macaws held in captivity participating in the ICMBio recovery program reached 110(NEST:12, ACTP:12, AWWP:86). Fruit it loves, especially Passionfruit.") Spix's Macaw Information. Spix's macaws are native to Brazil in the interior and northeast, where populations occurred in north-east Bahia (Juazeiro) and southern Piaui (Parnaguá). Spix’s macaws are monogamous, mating for life. The breeding season in the wild was between November and March. During 2000 a captive female was released in an effort to form a wild pair but unfortunately this bird died of electrocution on a power line. The historical range is now believed to have encompassed portions of the states of Bahia and Pernambuco in a 50 km (31 mi) wide corridor along a 150–200 km (93–124 mi) stretch of the Rio São Francisco between Juazeiro (or possibly Remanso) and Abaré. Fructus amat, Murucuia imprimis. [24], With the passage of the Brazil Wildlife Protection Act in 1967, Brazil forbade the export of its wildlife, and in 1975 became a party to the CITES treaty. [8] Spix's mistake was noticed in 1832 by German Professor of Zoology Johann Wagler, who realized that the 1819 specimen was smaller and a different color than the hyacinth macaw and he designated the new species as "Sittace spixii". [40] As recently as 1980, Robert Ridgely (ornithologist) stated that "there is no available evidence indicating a recent decline in numbers." Captive Populations. [51] The Permanent Committee was dissolved in 2002 due to irreconcilable differences between the parties involved. In 2004 a committee was re-formed and re-structured under the title of "The Working Group for the Recovery of the Spix's Macaw". It lived in a very restricted range, and destruction of the Caraiba woodlands meant almost total loss of the bird’s nesting habitat and was instrumental in its extinction in the wild. [17] Its voice is a repeated short grating. A single male, paired with a female blue-winged macaw, was discovered at the site in 1990. [58] (The female at Loro Parque Foundation cannot be bred due to health reasons). F.G. Dutton, president of the Avicultural Society U.K. in 1900: "it's more like a conure" ('conure' is not a defined taxon – in Dutton's time, it referred to the archaic genus Conurus; today those would be among the smaller non-macaw parakeets in Arini). They have also been relentlessly trapped for the illegal cage-bird trade. Highlights of the plan are to increase the captive population to 150 specimens (expected by 2020), build a breeding facility in Brazil within the Spix's native habitat, acquire and restore additional portions of its range, and prepare for its release into the wild between 2017 and 2021. Incubation is for about 25 to 28 days, and just by the female. The first 50 Spix’s Macaws will arrive in Brazil at the completed Release Facility by the end of 2019. F.G. Dutton, president of the Avicultural Society U.K. in 1900: "I have not yet seen a good-tempered Spix ... My Spix, which is really more a Conure than a Macaw, will not look at sop of any sort, except sponge cake given from one's fingers, only drinks plain water, and lives mainly on sunflower seed. The sound is made by creating a low rumble in the abdomen bringing the sound up to a high pitch. [72], One of the few accounts of the Spix in captivity was given by Rev. [12] Brazilian ornithologist Helmut Sick stated in 1981: "Cyanopsitta spixii...is not a real macaw"[Notes 1]. When the chicks hatch they are almost naked, with just a little down covering them. The Spix’s macaw is named after the Johann Baptist von Spix, the German naturalist, who, in 1819, collected a specimen from the banks of Brazil’s Rio São Francisco in northeast Bahia. But I expect it would not eat any sop, even if I gave it nothing else. November-March (in the wild); starts in August (in captivity), 2. These compose a small but important part of the natural habitat of the Spix, in the vicinity where the last known wild Spix nest existed. This process is known to possibly take several seasons in other large parrots, and it may also be the case for the Spix's. [69], In August 2018, 146 of the 160 Spix's macaws in the world lived in the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots in Rüdersdorf, (Germany). [81] In its 2014 sequel Rio 2, it is revealed that they are not the last pair at all, but in actuality other Spix's macaws are thriving secretly in the Amazon rainforest. The goal of the Association is to produce about 20 macaws per year. [46][47] As of 2019, the IUCN classifies the species as extinct in the wild. [68], In June 2018, the population of the species numbered approximately 158 individuals and an agreement was signed between the Ministry of the Environment of Brazil and conservation organizations of Belgium (Pairi Daiza Foundation) and Germany (Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots) to establish the repatriation of 50 Spix's macaws to Brazil by the first quarter of 2019. This species is classified as critically endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List. [23] Other ornithologists reporting the bird in various parts of the state of Piaui further extended the range to a vast area of the dry interior of northeast Brazil. In 1990, these were all that remained of what was once believed to be a vast filigree of creekside Caraibeira woodland extending 50 km into the Caatinga on either side of the Rio São Francisco along a significant stretch of its middle reaches. [77], The Spix is one of the "four blues", the four species of all blue macaws formerly seen in captivity together including the hyacinth macaw, Lear's macaw, and glaucous macaw (extinct).