WORLD PARROT DAY

World Parrot Day was originally founded 2004 by the World Parrot Trust and has been adopted by many organisations aiming to promote parrots and highlight the threats they face in the wild. Join and help with more voices for parrot conservation.
The World Parrot Day is held annually on May 31st.
The EAZA Parrot TAG would like to help promote the day with educational activities in zoos worldwide and to encourage zoo visitors to experience and appreciate parrots – either in your local zoo or if you are lucky, in the wild.
Below are various open source materials and ideas which can be used to educate children and adults about how amazing parrots are and why they are threatened in the wild.
28% of of all parrot species are threatened with extinction and more than half of the Parrot species are currently in decline… It is time for action. Celebrate World Parrot Day with us and join our efforts for parrot conservation.

Our Motto for 2024: “Be smart and creative, be more Parrot”

Check out Thanee and her advice to the kids. Credit for graphic Alyssa Rice from All the Birds Project

 

PARROT BEHAVIOUR: Kea are considered highly intelligent and in some areas they have started to disrupt human activities e.g. traffic by pushing objects onto the road giving the keas have the opportunity to get into the vehicle and scavenge for edibles.

 Check out this video from the Kea Conservation Trust and see the education materials below

Our Motto for 2023: “Flock together to share resources”

Check out Keiko and his advice to the kids. Credit for graphic Alyssa Rice from All the Birds Project

PARROT BEHAVIOUR:
Red-fronted Macaws lives in areas where large trees with nesting cavities are rare. As a result they nest in caves in steep cliffs and they are the only macaws in the genus Ara that does this in flocks. They are colony breeders.    

Demonstrating that the availibility of nesting sites can be a driver of behaviour and adaptations.

Blanco, G., Morinha, F., Roques, S. et al. Fine-scale genetic structure in the critically endangered red-fronted macaw in the absence of geographic and ecological barriers. Sci Rep 11, 556 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79575-6 

 

Motto for 2022: “Stay fit and healthy – be more Parrot”

Check out Katalita and her advice to the kids. Credit for graphic Alyssa Rice from All the Birds Project

PARROT BEHAVIOUR:
Did you know that some parrots use plants as their own pharmacy? 

Dr. Juan Marcello did a study on this together with many colleagues back in 2018. 

Masello, J.F., Martínez, J., Calderón, L. et al. Can the intake of antiparasitic secondary metabolites explain the low prevalence of hemoparasites among wild Psittaciformes?. Parasites Vectors 11, 357 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-2940-3 

 

Motto for 2021: “Be kind and selfless – be more Parrot”

Check out Gonzo and his advice to the kids. Credit for graphic Alyssa Rice from All the Birds Project

PARROT BEHAVIOUR:
Learn more about selfless parrots, click here for youtube VIDEO

Brucks & von Bayern (2020). Parrots Voluntarily Help Each Other to Obtain Food Rewards. Current Biology 30, 1–6 January 20, 2020.

Krasheninnikova A, Brucks D,Blanc S, von Bayern AMP (2019). Assessing African grey parrots’ prosocial tendencies in a token choice paradigm. Royal Society Open Science 6: 190696

Let us all learn more about, and from, parrot behaviour – be more parrot!

 

PARROT CONSERVATION:

Learn about conservation programmes for parrots. These projects are endorsed by the EAZA Parrot TAG

 

2023: Armonia the BirdLife Partner in Bolivia have a programme for the recovery of the Red-fronted Macaw

2022: The Katala Foundation have many activities to support the Philippine Cockatoo 

Philippine Cockatoos (c) Katala Foundation inc.

 

 

2021: The Limbe Wildlife Centre has an ongoing Conservation_Proposal see video below for information on the project progress

 

Learn more About Parrot Taxon Advisory Groups the work they do on www.parrottag.org

 

PARROT EDUCATION MATERIALS:

Suggested open source educational materials and activity inspiration for use on the World Parrot Day or for other Parrot themed education activities:

PDF – 2024 Education with Kea “Thanee” (new 2024)

PDF – 2024 Kea face-mask-DOC (new 2024)

PDF – 2024 Kea? whose poo is whose… (new 2024)

PDF – 2023 Education about Red fronted-macaw “Keiko” (new 2023)

PDF – 2023 Poster Zoo Animal of the Year 2023_MACAW (new 2023)

PDF – 2022 Education on Philippine cockatoo “Katalita”

2020-2021: Due to the COVID-19 related lockdown in many zoos and schools around the world, we have added a “Corona Virus Supplement” with many alternative ideas for having a online World Parrot Day PDF – World Parrot Day Online

PDF – Information and Ideas material

PDF – 2021 Education on Grey Parrot Gonzo 

PDF – Craft toys and enrichment

PDF – Fundraising for conservation

PDF – Invasive Species Information                   

PDF – Invasive Species Activities 

PDF – Activities for Children 

                  PDF – AZA World Parrot Day 2021 Packet 

 

We would like to thank our colleagues for sharing their materials with us. If you have any great ideas or material that you wish to share open source please get in touch with the EAZA Parrot TAG Education Advisor, Stephan Worm from Zoo Magdeburg.

 

REMEMBER WORLD PARROT DAY IS EVERY YEAR ON MAY 31ST

For more content and ideas see also the World Parrot Day Facebook page #WorldParrotDay

 

 

RETURN to the joint Parrot TAG’s page

 

 

On the work of the Katala Foundation on the Philippine cockatoo.

Limbe Wildlife Centre on progress up til September 2021.