Climate change threatens Brazil's beloved Spix's macaw from animated 'Rio' films

All Spix’s macaws are majestically blue in the blazing sun of Brazil's Northeast, but each bird is distinct to Candice and Cromwell Purchase. As the parrots soar squawking past their home, the couple can readily identify bird No. 17 by its smooth feathers and can tell No. 16 from No. 22, which has two beads attached to its radio collar. This familiarity offers a glimpse of the South African couple’s commitment to saving one of the world's most critically endangered species.

Threats that had devastated the Spix’s macaws still loom, and the birds now face another menace: climate change. The species’ original territory overlaps what has recently been officially designated Brazil’s first arid climate region. The drier conditions worry Cromwell Purchase because of their potential impact on habitat for the few surviving Spix’s macaws. 'A dry area only gets rain for a very short period of the year.

If the planet is warmer, there will be much greater evaporation. So, the water leaves the environment and generates aridity,' the director of Brazil’s anti-desertification efforts, Alexandre Pires, told The Associated Press. Since 2005, semi-arid area in Brazil has expanded by 116,000 square miles and is now roughly the size of three Californias.

The strained relations have put a pause on plans to release 20 parrots per year over 20 years. 'No release in 2023 and now looking like a 2024 release is unlikely. It would be a shame for the project to fail because of government politics,' Purchase said. There are approximately 360 Spix’s macaws in captivity worldwide, with 46 in Curaca.

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