Thoughts on Hybridization

S tanding in front of a cage of seven young Scarlet Macaws, I suddenly began to see nothing but red. The only thing brighter than luscious scarlet color of bird's plumage, was deep shades of anger that was reflected in my face. The breeder and I had just had a heated argument about dangers of indiscriminate hybridization of birds by American aviculturists. His view was that we had a responsibility to keep all of our captive-bred bloodlines pure, no matter what cost or sacrifice. And yet, right before my eyes were seven birds that were as strange to wild as ·any has ever been. Although filled with good intentions, issue of hybridization is as close to a moot point as is concept of a pet bird breeder supplying baby birds to in situ programs. Somewhere along line, we have managed to oversimplify reality of hybridization issue and we have added more emotion to this argument than good common sense. If, in fact, our original reason for keeping birds and breeding them in a environment was so there would . be some birds available for in future, we definitely screwed it up! In my opinion, a breeder who crosses a Blue and Gold with a Scarlet and bands their baby birds with closed leg-bands is less a threat to of aviculture than one who does not bother to pair his or her birds up properly. Who gave whom idea that breeding a Bolivian Scarlet to a Panamanian Scarlet is acceptable while purposeful hybridization is not? This is totally unacceptable and poses more of a risk to future release efforts than breeding of a misfit, strange colored, hybrid ever was. Back in 70s and 80s, when large commercial shipments of birds were coming into United States, breeders didn't pay attention to areas of wild where these birds were taken. In those days, a Scarlet was a Scarlet (some of blame is on ornithologists as well for not assigning taxonomic values to different populations of species). What has resulted is that many of second and higher generations of captive-bred Scarlet Macaws in this country are worthless from a conservation standpoint. No one paid attention to differences in groups of birds that were imported. Some Scarlets had large yellow wing patches with blue dots on yellow, and some had green dots on yellow. Some had a darker red plumage and were very large birds, while others were brighter in color, and had smaller bodies. But, aviculture inbred all these different natural versions of Scarlet Macaw, all while screaming that there was no place for a Catalina Macaw in aviculture. The result is that very few captivebred Scarlet Macaws are to their origin. We have created a generic Scarlet in our aviaries; one that is much like our in that it does not exist in wilds of Central or South America. It is not just macaws we keep that are no longer the same as wild populations of world. Take a good hard look at Blue-fronted Amazons in our The nominate race of Blue-fronted Amazon, although rarely imported into United States, has little or no yellow on wing. These avicultural rarities were selectively bred to their subspecific cousins, Amazona aestiva xanthopteryx, or Yellow-winged Amazon, in an attempt to get a prettier, more saleable pet bird. The result is that American aviculturists do not have many, if any, pure A. aestiva aestiva Blue-fronteds in aviary. If you are still stuck on idea of breeding for conservation or programs, you will be hard pressed to find a pure Brazilian Blue-fronted Amazon in our U.S. aviaries to begin your recovery program. Another example of how aviculture has ignored regional variations and subspecific assignment is Yellow-headed Amazon. Breeders have selectively bred birds with large amounts of yellow on head, to those with less yellow, to form an intermediate captive race. , Who paid attention to different subspecies and regional variations of this bird when setting up pairs for breeding? In old days, A. oratrix was Double Yellow-headed Arnazon, and A. belizensis was Single Yellow-headed Amazon. Now we have a conglomeration of these two birds, plus addition of birds from Tres Maria Island and other remote areas of their range. Are these birds any more valuable to in situ conservation efforts than would be a cross between a Yellow-headed and a Bluefronted Amazon? Highly unlikely! Discriminate and indiscriminate, hybridization in our aviaries has taken place for many, many years. As wild-caught stocks of yesteryear begin to die off, aviculture is left with what it has created. Through attempts to get bigger birds, more colorful birds, healthier birds, or even smaller birds, our selective breeding processes have rendered many of our captive-bred · birds useless to re-population efforts and conservation. This is not to say that captive-breeding is not important, it is, and it can reduce pressures on wild populations by supplying trade with birds. But, we have to begin to recognize our place in this grand scheme and stop hanging on to ideas that we are saving world's rare birds in our aviaries. Except in a few extreme instances, this is simply not true. ~