Reposted from our sister-site https://caribbeanfootprint.com/video-snippet-cackling-exotics-make-a-home-on-curacao/
Most visitors to the island of Curaçao will not expect to see large free roaming parrots in the wild, but the lucky observer will see just that now in many urban locations on the island. Chestnut-fronted macaws (Ara severus) are a much coveted bird in the bird trade and herein Curaçao is not different. Either by legal or illegal way many birds of this species were imported on Curaçao as pets, usually captured from the wild in South America.
These extremely intelligent birds are quite good in escaping cages and other enclosures. Combined with birds that were released by ‘owners’ confronted with the costs of keeping these animals a small group of birds ended up in the wild and soon grouped together in roosts in urban areas in the early 2010’s. As they were bound to fruit trees for food, they stayed in the city area of Willemstad and its outskirts of Mahaai, Jan Thiel, Saliña and now also Jan Doret, Julianadorp and beyond. As many people have large palm trees in the garden, they soon found not only location for roosting, but also for breeding and soon the population started increasing. Now more than a hundred birds fly wild on the island, visiting gardens to eat mangoes, and other fruits. These two cackling visitors were in the mood for Beach almonds (Terminalia catappa)
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