Critically Endangered
This week's animals will all have green in their name.
These may be extinct in the wild, but are still listed as critically endangered. They are illegally trapped for the songbird trade, prized because of their vibrant colours and how vocal they are. They didn't recieve protection until 2019, but it may have been too late. As of 2018 there were 50 in breeding programs in captivity, but they are difficult when it comes to captive breeding. As babies they are a pretty blue, but lutein in their diets turns them vibrant green. In captivity it can be tricky for their keepers to get the amounts right, so they can fade back to blue. Lutein comes from plants, but these are carnivorous birds so they don't eat plants, hence the difficulty The vibrant green actually plays an important part not just in facilitating breeding, but in the success of the eggs as well.
These aren't crows, but they are related to them. Oregon only has one kind of magpie, the black-billed magpie. They aren't in my part of Oregon, the northwest bit, they prefer to be east of the Cascades. That is where ravens are more common as well. Crows we have a lot of, but sadly, never in my yard for me to say hi to. We have lived in our home for 16 years and only in the past year or so have I even seen crows flying low over our home. I am pretty sure that before we moved here, someone on our street was very cruel to some crows. Crows hold grudges. I would love to have one decide our yard is safe, and come visit us daily, but that hasn't happened yet. I've been talking about putting bottle caps or other interesting shiny things on the roof for them. We've tried a crow friendly feeder. One of my sons got me a crow call I will be trying out this winter to see if I can attract them to our feeder when food might be sparse elsewhere.
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