2026/01/01 by Donald J. Brightsmith, Alejandro Rigatuso, Chris Biro +1
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Avian ecology and behavior #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
paper · doi:10.1017/s0959270926100537
openalex publication_date 2026/01/01 · openalex created_date 2026/06/09 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/09
Summary The current biodiversity crisis makes ecological restoration increasingly important. Psittaciformes is one of the most threatened avian orders and the illegal wildlife trade is a leading threat. This threat, coupled with the presence of thousands of confiscated parrots from the trade, provide a mixture of challenges and opportunities. Unfortunately, release of wildlife from the trade can be technically challenging as many lack the basic skills needed to survive in the wild. In addition, most of the documented releases of confiscated parrots have had relatively low success rates, suggesting a need for innovative release techniques. Free-flight training was developed by parrot owners to fly hand-raised parrots outdoors. In this study, we use free flight training to raise and release 18 fledging-aged, Yellow-crowned Amazons Amazona ochrocephala to test if free-flight training can provide young psittacines with the necessary skills to survive in the wild. We also used intense community engagement to encourage local support. Upon release, 100% of birds used project feeders, 100% showed good flock cohesion, and 94% showed good site fidelity. At one month post release 94% of the birds were still returning to the feeders with 89% at three months and 72% at one year. Two birds were recaptured and the final fate of four are unknown. Predators were scarce and no attacks or predation events were witnessed, but birds showed appropriate reactions to predators, and there was no direct evidence of predation. The community outreach was also successful as information from local people helped recover two birds and reduce negative interactions with locals. This research joins the body of evidence that young parrots trained using free-flight techniques have high site fidelity, group cohesion, and survival rates. This suggests that free-flight training is effective for reintroducing young parrots, especially when trying to establish core flocks at new release sites.