Since the death of the wild male Spix’s macaw in the year 2000, it was believed that this beautiful blue parrot was finally extinct in the wild. The only hope for saving the population was a small collection of perhaps 70 captive birds. However, earlier this year a farmer in the little town of Curaçá, Brazil, reported seeing a Spix’s macaw flying near his land. A few days later, his neighbour and her daughter went out at daybreak to search; they not only spotted the macaw, but the daughter managed to video it on her mobile phone.
The Society for the Conservation of Birds in Brazil confirmed it; the bird on the young woman’s video was definitely a free-flying wild Spix’s macaw. The people of Curaçá, who have long been proud of being the former home of one of the world’s rarest birds, and are delighted by the news. The Spix’s macaw is considered a symbol of the town, and the locals are deeply committed to the species’ eventual recovery.