A tale of two nests and one chick

Some macaw chicks are destined to die. That was the case of Indy; born third in the Mandy Lu nest. As all other macaw chicks that hatch third in their broods, their parents would have neglected to feed her and she would have starved to death for sure, after just a few days. That is what we have learned after 20 years studying macaw breeding ecology and behavior in the rain forests of Tambopata, Peru. That is the law of the jungle for macaws here.

 

"Indy", third hatched in Mandy Lu nest, in her first close-up after in our nursery

Meanwhile in our Gavilan nest, there never would have been two chicks. The breeding pair worked hard to defend a nest and the nesting female laid three eggs. But something went wrong during incubation and two of them died before they got the chance to hatch. That is not rare here in Tambopata where just 46 % of macaw eggs laid actually hatch. After an entire breeding season, even if all went well, the Gavilan macaw pair would only have one new fledgling to show for their work. Nature is good at writing sad stories. But, here in the Tambopata Macaw Project, we're committed to writing happy endings.

The day Indy hatched, we rescued her from the nest where she would have starved. We've raised her for over a week, and she is doing great. She has gone from just 20 grams up to a healthy 147 grams! But we have been searching all the time for her new home ---and now we've found one!

 

Proud 10 days old "Indy", showing her excitement about her foster family news.

Indy will go to Gavilan nest. She will have a great family who will feed her and take good care of her. Her foster sibling is one day younger than she is and so far, development of both of them is very similar. She will stay with us in our nursery for another week, so we can get her off to a healthy start. As soon as she opens her eyes (around 18 days old), she'll move into her foster nest ! Both the mom and dad macaws will have a second chick to call their own and we will get one step closer to learning how to save macaws from dying of starvation using foster parents.

How's that for a happy ending?

Written by Greta Hardy - Tambopata Macaw Project Volunteer & Gabriela Vigo Trauco - Tambopata Macaw Project Coordinator

Edited by Don Brightsmith