Bird-keepers’ socioeconomic profile
We interviewed a total of 40 birds-keepers or ex-bird-keepers in the considered region. The majority of interviews bird-keepers were men (n = 34), inhabited rural areas (n = 28), had only completed primary education (n = 32) and reported an income less than minimum wage (n = 29). Respondent’s age ranged from 20 to 78 years, with the mean being 48 years old. Our Multiple Correspondence Analysis points a correlation between settlements and wild birds’ commercialization (Figure 2). The majority of respondents that reported buying and selling wild birds inhabited the urban area and were from a specific age range (20 to 45 years old).
Species and uses
A total of 21 avian species (including one hybrid) was mentioned, most of those being of the Passeriformes order (n = 19) and the Thraupidae family (n = 12). Four major uses were associated with birds: pet, trade, contest and breeding (Table 1). While keeping birds as pets was a practice associated with all mentioned species, trade was linked mainly to songbirds. Breeding and usage in the contests were related only to a few particular species (Figure 3).
Bird-keeping
Motivations for keeping birds as pets were varied, ranging from attraction for the bird’s aesthetic, singing or the company, to statements that bird-keeping is a cultural tradition among local residents passed between generations. Urban residents that previously habited rural areas associated bird-keeping as a way to “remember the old home”, keeping species common to the previous dwelling place as a memento. Many of the interviewed (n = 26) also noted that among their local bird-keeping culture, there seems to be a preference for Sporophila nigricollis and Saltator similis individuals.
Respondents mentioned different practices to keep captive birds healthy. A common habit is to move bird cages to a sunny place every morning in order to guarantee enough natural light exposition to captive individuals. Different types of food were mentioned, varying between seeds of local Poaceae species to distinct rations for particular avian species. Captivity was reported to affect the bird’s plumage and singing. Periodic molting presented by some captive individuals is known as “feather recalling” by local bird-keepers, and is related foremost to the stress of captivity, especially in newly-caged individuals. Different approaches to decrease molting and increase the quality of plumage and singing were mentioned, such as offering different types of seed and fruits or applying vitamins to the captive individual (Figure 4). Bird-keepers also can use the presence of other captive birds to encourage singing, a process described as “warming up”, done primarily by introducing a captive female of the species of the concerned individual in proximity. For territorial avian species, warming up can also be done by introducing another male in the vicinity.
Bird trade
Commercialization of songbirds is regarded as a popular practice in the region and as a resort to obtain money when needed. Some respondents admitted to participating in wild bird trade in the last year (n = 13) involving monetary compensation or using certain species as a currency in exchanges between other local known bird-keepers. Although the legal repercussion of such practices is a well-known fact, between bird-keepers, all respondents that admitted engaging in bird trade do not see themselves as “bird traffickers”, justifying that in their opinions, that would be a classification most suited to sellers of a large quantity of captive individuals involving a destination outside the city. As such, large scale bird trafficking is generally frowned upon by local bird-keepers, since this could attract attention of surveillance to the region.
The value of trade birds was said to depend mainly on two factors: the species and whether the captive bird was trained beforehand. Newly captured individuals (called by local bird-keepers as “wild”) were said to possess a much lower price, varying between U$ 5.00 to U$ 19.00 per individual according to species. After a process of “taming” which involves putting the wild bird in a small cage and familiarizing it with human presence, prices were said to vary between U$ 17.00 and U$ 114.00. This taming process could take between three months to one year, depending on the bird species and size (typically, larger birds would need more time to be tamed). Wild birds were said to be cheaper compared to tamed birds because newly captured birds could harm themselves against the cage in the first months of captivity and would not sing as often or with the same attractiveness as tamed birds.
Trained songbirds that could perform distinct chants were said to be valued at much higher prices. Sporophila nigricollis individuals that could perform specific chants were said to be valued at prices as high as U$ 380.00, while the value of trained Saltator similis individuals could reach U$ 570.00. Training songbirds to perform specific chants was said to be a difficult and slow process that involved capturing wild individuals at a very young age and submitting them for hours of daily recording of the desired chant. Even with training, only a few individuals would be capable of performing the specific chant flawlessly. Territorial birds – such as Cyanoloxia brissonii – were said to be valued by “bravery”, as most aggressive birds would possess higher value in trade. The method to measure territorial birds aggressively was described as putting two encaged birds of the same species in the same vicinity; the first individual to bristle it feathers would be considered less “brave” than its counterpart. Trained birds were said to be submitted to compete against others of the same species in clandestine contests known as “rinhas”, often involving some kind of monetary prize. Songbirds would be tested against each other based on chant type or frequency, while territorial birds would compete by fighting against each other.
Methods and strategies used to capture
Most respondents reported capturing birds in the last year (n = 24), specifying this practice as a local tradition among different generations. Strategies reported to be used in capture would often involve specialized traps (Figure 5) or procedures (Table 2), according to the desired species, size, and would be performed at recognizing locations acknowledged for a large abundance of birds or the presence of a particular species, often within the national park’s area. Saltator similis, for example, was said to be a species that could only be found in deep vine forest regions of the park, while Cyanoloxia brissonii was mostly associated within the arid areas characterized as the Caatinga expanse of the park.
The season also was said to influence avian species availability and capture. The optimal time for bird capture was said to be the rainy season, occurring between November and March. In this period, avian species abundance was said to increase next to natural bodies of water, such as waterfalls and rivers, and some popular species in the region, such as Sporophila lineola, could only be found and captured in this specific time period.
In the rural settlements, some respondents (n = 7) cited a practice known as “bird ordering”, a process that would involve the visit of an outsider offering advanced payments to local residents in exchange for captured avian species that they would later return to collect. Although no respondent admitted engaging in such practices, it was said that bird ordering is a recurring thing in the region, especially between known bird trappers and local large-scale traders. Another common occurrence is the visit of bird hunters from nearby cities to capture avian species located inside the park. Respondents linked those outsiders mostly to the cities of Manuel Vitorino (n = 29) and Poções (n = 27), areas where wild bird trade would be more present and even conducted in open markets thorough the cities.
Bird-keeping and trade after the park’s establishment
All respondents (n = 40) agreed that after the park’s establishment in 2010, practices of bird-keeping, capture and trade declined drastically within the urban perimeter of the city and rural settlements alike. The main reason attributed to this decline was the increased surveillance by environmental agencies, such as the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) and Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), consequential to the park’s foundation. More than half of the urban perimeter’s respondents (n = 7) have had captive birds apprehended before by such agencies. In rural settlements, a few respondents (n = 4) admitted releasing captive birds in fear of penalty, after gaining knowledge that those agencies were inspecting their respective surroundings. Two respondents from the urban perimeter explained that keeping a hybrid species obtained by breeding a male Spinus magellanicus with a female Serinus Canaria could be a way of cheating surveillance by official agencies, and one of them could even breed those hybrids in his own home. Their reasoning was that as being hybrids, these individuals (Figure 6) could not be reintroduced in a natural environment, therefore, surveillance agents would not make a significant effort to apprehend them.