Endangered parrot in care

Juvenile Brown-backed Parrotlet <em>Touit melanotus</em> (&copy; Raquel Batista)
Juvenile Brown-backed Parrotlet Touit melanotus (© Raquel Batista)

This extraordinary photo shows a juvenile Brown-backed Parrotlet Touit melanotus, a parrot endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and classified as Endangered. This young bird was handed in to staff at Serra dos Órgãos National Park near REGUA. Raquel Batista, girlfriend of our guide Leonardo and a researcher at the park, has experience of hand rearing birds, and so set to work feeding the bird a diet of mashed banana. Trapping birds for the cage bird trade is illegal in Brazil, although it remains a common activity. However, this bird has a slightly damaged wing and so it is thought that it probably fell out of it’s nest and was not removed by a hunter. The bird is recovering and doing well and it is hoped that it can be released in the near future.