Help the Green-Winged Macaw Fly Again!

Help the green–winged Macaw to fly again over the Iberá wetlands sky!

The Green–winged Macaw has been persecuted by humans since ancient times, hunted for their beautiful feathers and captured for use as pets. Over the past century, Green–winged Macaws have declined all across South America and become extinct in Argentina. This majestic bird used to inhabit the Iberá wetlands in northeast Argentina, playing a vital role helping to generate new forests by dispersing large seeds from trees. Its disappearance not only means the absence of a beautiful species, but of a vital part of the ecosystem.

Luckily, the Iberá wetlands recently became a National Park, and species like the Green–winged Macaw will now be safe. However, since there are none left in Iberá, the new population needs to grow from Macaws that have lived all their lives in captivity.

The Conservation Land Trust is working hard to reestablish the Green–winged Macaw population, an especially difficult task given that many Macaws coming from captivity do not know how to fly. They require several months of training to learn how to fly, find food and defend from predators. Once they successfully complete the training, they are released in the wild. Now these animals have the opportunity of flying free for the first time in their lives!

There is a lot of work left to reestablish the Green–winged Macaw back in Iberá. More captive macaws arrive to the project every year, needing constant care, training, medical checkups and food. Once free, macaws are periodically monitored to assure they are adapting to their new environment. Little by little, we can restore this formerly extinct population to Argentina, and ensure the skies of Iberá are filled with these beautiful, colorful birds!

You can help! Just $2 feeds one macaw for one day.

Tompkins Conservation (formerly The Conservation Land Trust) is primarily dedicated to the creation and/or expansion of national or provincial parks to ensure the perpetuity of their ecological and evolutionary processes with the strongest long–term protection guarantee possible. TC supports programs for the protection of wildlife, reintroduction of locally extinct species, land restoration and programs for local development, normally involved in ecotourism, sustainable farming and environmental education.