BIRD OF THE YEAR 2023

The Cape Parrot is Bird of the Year 2023, a title that has helped raise awareness of the endangered status of this endemic bird, as well as its habitat, the Afromontane forests. The bird population has been declining due to the degradation of their feeding and breeding sites, and illegal capture has also affected their numbers.

The Cape Parrot Project is working to engage communities and organisations about the birds’ threat of extinction, and is also focusing on restoring the forests. Alien vegetation is being managed to assist natural forest regeneration, supplementing planting with indigenous trees such as Yellowwood.

Communities are invited to become growers in nurseries set up for the project and having received training and the necessary resources, are encouraged to grow seedlings which the project then buys back. These seedlings are planted into the degraded forest habitat and at the same time, the project is creating livelihood opportunities in local communities.

World Parrot Day was held in May 2023 and helped raise awareness of the need for the bird’s long-term conservation, as well as habitat preservation. The birds inhabit isolated forest patches in the Eastern Cape, KZN and Limpopo provinces. Bird of the Year also served as an educational tool to connect with children in rural schools in these provinces.

www.wildbirdtrust.com