Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird - Paperback

by Tony Juniper (Author)

An environmental parable for our times - the story of a beautiful blue bird meeting its nemesis at the end of the 20th-century.

In December 1897 the Reverend F. G. Dutton lamented that 'there are so many calls on a parson's purse, that he cannot always treat himself to expensive parrots.' He was hoping to purchase a Spix's Macaw, a rare and beautiful parrot found in a remote area of Brazil. Today, the parson's search would be in vain. By the turn of the millennium only one survivor, a lone male, existed in the wild.

Spix's Macaw tells the hearbreaking story of a unique band of brilliant blue birds - who talk, fall in love, and grieve - struggling against the forces of extinction and their own desirability. By the second half of the 20th-century the birds became gram for gram more valuable than heroin; so valuable that they drew up to $40,000 on the black markets. When, in 1990, only one was found to be living in the wild, an emergency international rescue operation was launched and an amnesty declared, allowing private collectors to come forward with their illegal birds, possible mates for the last wild Spix.

In a breathtaking display of stoicism and endurance, the loneliest bird in the world had lived without a mate for fourteen years, had outwitted predators and second-guessed the poachers. But would he take to a new companion? Spix's Macaws are like humans - they can't be forced to love. With exquisite detail, this book tells the dramatic story of the rescue operation, and of the humans whose selfishness and greed brought a beautiful species to the brink of extinction. The long, lonely flight of the last Spix's Macaw is both a love story and an environmental parable for our times.

Back Jacket

"Not only were we in the presence of the last Spix's Macaw at Curaca - it was the last wild Spix's Macaw anywhere...Unlike all other mortal creatures that must one day face the inevitable reality of their own demise, the death of this bird would mark the end not only of himself but his entire kind."

In December 1897 the Honourable and Reverend F.G. Dutton lamented that 'there are so many calls on a parson's purse, that he cannot always treat himself to expensive parrots'. He was hoping to purchase a Spix's Macaw, a rare and beautiful parrot found in a remote area of Brazil. Today, the parson's search for a Spix would be in vain. By the turn of the millenium, only one survivor existed in the wild.

'Spix's Macaw' tells the heartbreaking story of a unique band of brilliant blue birds - who talk, fall in love, and grieve - struggling against the forces of extinction. Discovered in the early nineteenth century, the Spix soon became the most expensive bird in the world. By the end of the twentieth century the birds became gram-for-gram more valuable than heroin; so treasured that they drew up to $40,000 on the black market. When, in 1990, only one was found to be living in the wild, an amnesty was declared allowing private collectors to come forward with their illegal birds. The last Spix would be paired with a captive bird, in the hope that the secrets of survival in the wild would be passed down to future generations.

In a breathtaking display of stoicism and endurance, the loneliest bird in the world had lived without a mate for fourteen years, had outwitted predators and second-guessed the poachers. But would he take to a new companion? Spix's Macaws are like humans - they can't be forced to love. With exquisite detail, this book tells the dramatic story of the international rescue operation, and of the humans whose selfishness and greed brought a beautiful species to the brink of extinction. The long, lonely flight of the last Spix's Macaw is both a love story and an environmental parable for our times.

Author Biography

Tony Juniper is the Executive Director of Friends of the Earth and co-author of the award-winning PARROTS. He lives in Cambridge, and campaigns in the UK and worldwide on a broad range of environmental issues.