The Senegal parrot forms part of a superspecies that also includes the Ruppell’s parrot, Meyer’s parrot, Red-billed parrot, Brown-headed parrot, and Niam-Niam parrot. These Poicephalus parrots are among the hardiest parrots on earth being able to survive in the harsh, seasonal African subtropics. All of their range states are under serious pressure from the booming charcoal industry, out-of-control commercial logging contractors, burning by local people for pastures and agriculture, as well as the longre term ravages of climate change. Deforestation rates on the continent are now twice that of the rest of the world and harvesting quotas are trending upwards as forest certification becomes less relevant with booming emerging markets in the Far East. Countries like Zambia, Kenya and Malawi have almost lost all old-growth forests and forest restoration has become absolutely essential to save endemic forest bird species. People in emerging markets are simply “keeping up with the Jones’s” (who already have hardwood floors) and are completely detached from the devastation they are causing on the African continent and elsewhere. Even if these people and others did know about forest patches and the species that rely on them disappearing, would they care? Or better put should they care? We cannot sit here in judgement of them without fully understanding their life experience by having lived it. All we can do is lead by example, share this information as widely as possible, and invest in projects that develop alternative livelihoods for rural communities that should be the custodians of our remaining wilderness areas.
Long-lived forest specialists like Senegal parrots and rose-ringed parakeets are particularly sensitive to forest degradation. The added pressure of the wild-caught bird trade is often catastrophic, resulting in local extinctions in many Africa countries. Meyer’s parrots have all but disappeared from South Africa, African grey parrots are no longer seen in Kenya or Tanzania, Ruppell’s parrot and the brown-headed parrot have disappeared from much of their ranges in Namibia and Mozambique respectively, and the Cape parrot is only found in small forest refuges in the high mountains. Anyone who has traveled by road in Africa will tell you that every time you are in or near a forest you will start seeing parrots in cages or with their feet tied up on the roadside. Africa is exporting its parrots, its wildlife, its birdlife, its natural heritage, its soul… You see these animals, plants and minerals at the ports, airports, borders, railway depots, and major city centers. If there are parrots in the region you will find them in the local markets, more often than not dying from malnutrition and disease. These are the parrots that the traders, exporters and middlemen that drive the wild-caught bird trade would not include in their latest shipment overseas. Do we want these skins from the Natural History Museum at Tring (UK) to be all we have left of the wild populations?
Witnessing African parrots in the wild is a very special experience. They are extremely high energy and somehow seem out of place in this wild and dangerous place. Their shrieks, whistles and calls usually appear cheerful and happy as they soar above the forest canopy, adding much need color to the all too utilitarian color scheme employed by most birds in the subtropics where predation is a huge risk. My PhD fieldwork on Meyer’s Parrot in the Okavango Delta revealed the degree to which you can interact with these intelligent little parrots. You learn about their complex society that supports pair-bonding for life, strong family ties, and the opportunity to grow up into a responsible adult parrot capable of breeding successfully. Young Meyer’s parrots were inquisitive and fun to be with, allowing me to climb into the tree with them and photograph them. Adult females at the nest cavity would get to know us very well and vocalize to tell the male that we were “Ok” and would not harm them or give away their location. Wild Meyer’s parrots are constantly sharing information with each other about social events, food resources, emotion, threat, and tragedy. Information is power and to protect it they have established local dialects to ensure more benefit for locals over seasonal nomads. Poicephalus parrots visibly have moods, personalities and emotions. You can literally feel this when there are enough parrots sharing the same emotion and vocalizing about it. This could be happiness, simple excitement, alarm, anxiety or simply confused discussion about something new like you. African parrots have taken my breath away many, many times and deserve to be free…
Rare video footage of the Senegal parrot in the wild:
Rare video footage of rose-ringed parakeets in the wild:
On a recent trip to West Africa, Michael Sazhin (www.TrainedParrot.com & www.TheParrotForum.com), was aiming to survey the forest habitat of two popular African parrot species, the Senegal parrot and rose-ringed parakeet. Footage and photos of these parrots in the wild is very rare and remaining wild populations are sparsely distributed. In addition, most wild populations are still heavily harvested for the wild-caught bird trade, depleting local wild populations and making Michael’s job even harder. Often the best forest habitat for these species is in the cities of the region, which brings these parrots into contact with people and the associated problems. Trees survive in the city because specific people own them… There are few stable African parrot populations outside of protected areas and even these are not as healthy as they should be. Unfortunately, most of the parrots that Michael encountered were wild-caught and in very poor conditions in street markets. These are the parrots that the commercial traders and exporters did not want. All will die if they are not purchased and sometimes business is slow…
Video footage of this man selling parrots to Michael Sazhin:
International trade in wild-caught parrots threatens the persistence of many wild populations around the world. Indonesia, the Philippines, and several African countries (e.g. Senegal, Cameroon, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) are among the major exporters of wild parrots. Around Africa parrots are being treated like commodities by desperate people being taken advantage of by unscrupulous traders and middlemen. The parrots are not the only victims here. This unethical and unsustainable trade needs to be brought to a halt before it is too late. Rural communities need to find sustainable livelihoods have no impact on biodiversity and the ecosystems thats support it. People that own, love, and breed parrots around the world need to stand up and unite against the wild-caught bird trade. We have learnt enough over the last century about breeding birds in captivity to be able to supply the needs of the international bird trade. Please submit your thoughts and comments below this blog post…
We need to ensure that, in the future, all Senegal parrots in captivity (like the one below) are all captive-bred and hand-raised. After heavy regulation since 1992, the United States has proven that all African parrot species can be effectively bred in captivity and there is no need to source any species from the wild.
Does it not make sense for us to ban international trade in any birds that looks like their wild cousins? What I mean by this is that only captive-bred color morphs (e.g. pink African grey parrots) that cannot be confused with wild parrots would be allowed into international trade. The movement of what appear to be wild, indigenous species should not leave their country of origin. If captive populations need to be established to save a species from extinction, then this should be done within their natural distributional range. A color morph is the direct result of selective breeding by aviculturalists and part of this process is domestication. We have discussed the application of DNA fingerprinting to identify wild-caught birds, but this research is proving to be costly and the results often inconclusive. We have seen captive-bred color morphs of the rosy-faced lovebird establish a growing population on the South African south coast. There are concerns around their use of the indigenous Cape weaver nests for breeding. At least these escapees were far from their established distributional range and are easily identifiable. Please submit your thoughts and comments below this blog post… Is this a viable option? Are color morphs a threat to the gene pools of captive parrot populations? Why do we need wild genes introduced periodically to captive populations?