Today's highlighted t-shirts feature the Barred Parakeet, also known as the Lineolated Parakeet. These birds are popular in aviculture and have been bred into different color morphs, four of which are available at Birdorable.
This week's featured t-shirt is this New Zealand Save the Kakapo design. Birdorable is proud to support Kakapo conservation: 30% of the retail price of every Birdorable Kakapo product sale will be donated to the Kakapo Recovery Programme in New Zealand. For more information see our Save the Kakapo page.
Today's 189th Birdorable is this Birdorable Galah, also known as the Rose-breasted Cockatoo or Pink and Grey. It is a widespread parrot in Australia, where it can be commonly seen in the bush as well as urban areas such as Perth and Melbourne. Wow, I can't imagine having such colorful birds visit our backyard feeders.
Photo by scuze (Source: Flickr)
Until the 31st of July we'll be adding a new bird every day as part of our Birdorable Bonanza until we reach #200 at the end of this month. Here's a preview of tomorrow's bird:
Today we've added five new parrots to Birdorable: the White-crowned Parrot, Blue-fronted Amazon, Spix's Macaw, Alexandrine Parakeet and Peach-fronted Parakeet.
We continue to get a lot of new bird requests for parrots and parakeets, especially since our site was featured in the August edition of Bird Talk magazine. Of the 125 different species of birds on Birdorable today, 32 are parrots and parakeets. One of the rarest and most critically endangered parrots in the world is the Spix's Macaw. It is believed to be extinct in the wild! :( The species was feared to be extinct in the early 1980's, until it was rediscovered in 1985 when just 5 birds were located in the north of Bahia, Brazil. Sadly, by 1988 it appeared the last 5 birds had been removed by trappers. In 1990, an exhaustive survey in the area resulted in the discovered of a single wild survivor! The Brazilian Authorities located a wild caught female Spix's Macaw at a private breeding facility. In 1995 the female was released in the wild to join the last remaining one, but unfortunately shortly after she was found dead. The one remaining bird was last seen on October 5th, 2000 and is thought to have died of natural causes as he was in excess of 20 years old. Currently there are approximately 120 individual Spix's Macaws in captivity around the world. 78 of these are participating in an international breeding program managed by the Institute Chico Mendes of Biodiversity Conservation, the Natural Heritage Branch of the Brazilian Government. 50 of these are managed at Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation in the State of Qatar. Show your support for this beautiful bird with this Birdorable Save the Spix's Macaw t-shirt:
The Hyacinth Macaw is the largest flying parrot species in the world (the larger Kakapo of New Zealand is flightless) and has one of the strongest beaks relative to its size in the known bird world. Unfortunately, these beautiful South American birds are endangered due to high levels of poaching and smuggling for pet trade. They are further threatened by increased commercial sale of feather art and habitat loss from human development. The Hyacinth Macaw is the latest bird to be cutified as a Birdorable. Begun in 1990 by the biologist Neiva Guedes, the Hyacinth Macaw Project in Brazil has monitored about 3,000 individuals over an area of 400,000 hectares in the Pentanal region of Mato Grosso do Sul. The project is involved in the research, management and conservation of the species. In carrying these out, biologists, veterinarians, field workers, ranchers and university students share in activities ranging from technical studies on reproduction, behavior, and habitat to environmental education.
Photo by Tambako The Jaguar
Photo by Donna Sullivan-Thomson
Birdorable is proud to welcome the beautifully colored Rainbow Lorikeet to its family of cutified birds. Rainbow Lorikeets are a type of parrot that lives in rainforests in Australia, Indonesia and outlying areas. This is our totally cute Birdorable version of the Rainbow Lorikeet. Great gifts here for Lorikeet lovers!
