GREAT news ! Hope they will breed them on a more regulary base as the other 2 collections which have bred them sofar !
Sadly the Shoebill chick did not survive. According to their Facebook page: "Although the parents tried their best and were monitored brooding and feeding the chick, it died six days after hatching. It is very sad, but we have learned valuable lessons for the future. Not only for our shoebills, but also for others kept worldwide. We very strongly believe that giving these birds the chance to parent rear is important for the future of the captive population. Hatching this chick was another milestone in the history of shoebills in aviculture and a huge achievement. We impatiently await the next breeding season and we have faith that our pair will repeat the breeding achievement and successfully rear chicks."
No news on the Bulwer's for 2014 yet. Last Sunday the first Spix's of 2014 has been born. Makes makes it already 3 (1 at Al-Wabra and 2 at ACTP) young for 2014.
Video-clip from inside the Spix-macaw nestbox : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=671320216275152 The young however is a illiger macaw chick.
Good that this pair is now getting experience of raising chicks- hopefully it will lead to some naturally reared Spix in due course- they do need some of that.
A fifth Spix macaw hatched : At 22:40pm on Friday 13th June 2014, under a hazy full moon, our 5th chick hatched! The two chicks in this picture are very special as the larger one is due to artificial insemination. While last nights hatchling, was not only as a result of Artificial Insemination, but comes from a pair of female Spix's macaws. This is important as the female bias of the population causes many extra females to be without partners and in the past thus never produced. Now that we have been able to get 2 female Spix's macaws to bond, we have the opportunity to get more eggs laid that can be inseminated. Both females in the pair laid this season, but the fertile egg produced by the first female stopped developing. Fortunately this one hatched... ( FB )
2 White-tailed ( short-billed ) cockatoos hatched recently at AWWC ! They were both produced by artificial insimination.
At an age of only 48 founder of the Al Wabra Wildlife Center Sheikh Saoud bin Mohammed Bin Ali Al Thani has passed away. Wish his family and friends all the strenght and hope his life-work - the Al Wabra Wildlife Center can be continued in his honor.
Very sad news. I hope this does not spell the end for Al Wabra and the wonderful work they are doing!
I can only echo your comments. Truly, Shaykh Saoud was a leading light in matters nature conservation inside Qatar and the Arabian Peninsula as well as outside ..., with some very forth-sighted conservation projects both in the Horn of Africa and South America.
Video of Lear's macaws bred 2014, in the large free-flight aviary : https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=770720846335088
