and the Loro Parque Fundacion found additional birds. The World Parrot Trust has many volunteers and employees working to monitor the nests to protect the chicks from predation. Chicks are also examined periodically to ensure that they are healthy and receiving adequate food from their parents. If necessary, the chick is supplemented with formula. Nest boxes have been built, current nest sites improved, and support from the local landowners has been established. In 2008, American Bird Conservancy partnered with the World Land Trust-US, Loro Parque Fundacion, and Assiociacion Armonia to create the blue-throated macaw Reserve. In 2010, the reserve was expanded by 2,800 acres (formerly Juvena Ranch) and is now 11,500 acres. Armonia has also created a program in recent years to replace the real feathers in traditional indigenous 'machetero' headdresses with artificial feathers created from hand-painted palm fronds. The feathers for the headdresses were previously culled from several species of macaw, including the Blue-throated, and as many as 10 birds were killed to make one head-piece. Endangered Species Act On November 4, 2013, the blue-throated macaw was listed under the Endangered Species Act, per the USFWS Final rule. Because of their large captive population, the American Federation of Aviculture asked that captive-born Blue-Throated Macaws not be listed through a 19-page submission to the federal government. Aviculture They are relatively easy to find in captivity, and the captive population consists of about 1000–1100 individuals. Individuals are kept in several zoos around the world, among them the Santa Cruz zoo in Bolivia. Captive blue-throated macaws have successfully hybridized with the military macaw, producing offspring known by aviculturists as Corrientes macaws. Several breeding and conservation schemes in zoos have now been set up to save this species. Other projects have been started to protect the remaining wild population, but at present, numbers are still decreasing. In the wild, within the palm groves of Bolivia, birds nest in tree hollows created in dead palm trunks, rotten knot-holes and dead limbs of trees. There is some evidence that parents maintain the third chick of a clutch with minimal food as an insurance against the loss of the older dominant chicks. If disaster should befall the larger chick, the parent can switch to feeding the youngest, and it will exhibit a constant growth curve from the day of active feeding. It is this physiological response that enables researchers to raise the third chick of a