Protecting Argentina's giant parrot colony

[depakid]

You might think that 180,000 squawking, screeching parrots living in 35,000 nests along 12km (seven miles) of coastline would draw quite a lot of attention. They make a lot of noise and, with their green backs and red and yellow bellies, are a spectacular sight as they swoop and circle above the cliffs looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.

British naturalist Charles Darwin found and wrote about them on his travels in the 1830s.

But not many Argentines are aware of the burrowing parrots (Cyanoliseus patagonus) which form the world's biggest parrot colony. Admittedly, the birds are a long way from major centres of population - about 30km from the town of Viedma on the north-eastern tip of the region of Patagonia.

One Argentine who is not only aware of but facinated by the parrots is biologist Juan Masello. He returns every year from his home in Germany to track and chart their progress.

The birds, which can live for more than 20 years, are monogamous. Each year, after migration to warmer climates, they somehow return to the same nest, in the same hole carved among 35,000 other similar holes, some up to 3m deep, in the sandstone cliffs.



More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7721889.stm