Conservation in the Wild

Join us as Dr. Brightsmith and Dr. Vigo-Trauco speak on their work with The Tejano Parrot Project and the parrots of south texas. While most of us own pet birds, it's imperitive to expand on knowledge to how these species are surviving in the wild.

The $10 fee will be a direct donation to The Macaw Society. 

About the Speakers: 

Dr. Donald Brightsmith’s research focuses on  the conservation, ecology, health, and welfare of parrots and their  relatives in both the wild and captivity through the Schubot Exotic Bird  Health Center. Brightsmith did his doctoral research in Manu, Peru, and  has been involved in parrot and macaw research ever since. In 1999,  took over the Tambopata Macaw Project, to study the ecology and  conservation of macaws and parrots in the lowlands of southern Peru.  Since then, he has published a host of groundbreaking papers on various  aspects of macaw breeding, reintroduction and clay lick ecology.  Brightsmith earned a bachelor’s in natural resources from Cornell  University and a Ph.D. in zoology from Duke University.

Dr. Vigo-Trauco is post-doctoral research associated to the Department of Vet pathobiology from Texas A&M University and an active member of the Schubot Center for Avian Health. 

She is a biologist from the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina that started working with wild parrots in 2003 in Tambopata, in her  native Peru. Her expertise is in parrot nesting ecology and behavior.  Her main investigations are related to the growth and development of  macaw chicks in the wild, the breeding behavior of wild macaws, and  management techniques to increase reproductive rates in the wild. As  part of her doctoral investigations in the Ecology and Conservation Biology department in Texas A&M university she tested the use of wild macaws as foster parents and its implications for the conservation of the species

In 2019, she founded The Macaw Society with Dr. Don Brightsmith with  the goal of continuing their scientific research in wild parrots and  macaw but with a focus shifted to more direct conservation topics and  advising local conservation action plans.

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This lecture will be fully online only via Google Meet. You can watch  the class without being on camera or using a microphone, but it is  highly recommended that you do so that any questions can be addressed  quickly and easily.

You will also be emailed a link an hour before the start of  the class with the email you provided for us when buying your ticket. If  you do not receive a reminder email the Friday before class, please  contact us at general@sugarcreekbirdfarm.com so we can make sure you get  the link for the class.

Google Meet is a professional video conferencing app that can be  accessed on a PC, Mac, laptop, tablet, or phone.  The app only requires  you to have a google account, which is free and can be done here if you do not already have one.  PC, Mac, and laptop users can access Google Meet by simply using your web browser at meet.Google.com. You will need to download the Google Meet app on an iPhone or iPad in the App Store, or the Google Play Store for an android device. The link to access the class on Google Meet will  be sent out one hour before class starts.  Ensure the email you put in  the registration form is one that you can check during that time. We  also recommend you try out Google Meet beforehand if you can, and use this page to get your settings correct if you have never used video conferencing before.