Chris Castles with Hatched to Fly Free received two scarlet macaw chicks that were poached from their nests. A friend of the organization found the chicks in the possession of a local family that had been hired to get two macaw chicks. The person who hired the poachers to get the chicks never returned to collect them.

As the local family could no longer care for the growing chicks, they surrendered the chicks to Hatched to Fly Free

Both of the scarlet macaw chicks are very friendly.

Though nothing is known about the chicks’ parentage, due to their size difference Castles believes they are from different nests. Since being taken in by hatched to fly free, both chicks have been putting on weight and developing quickly.

When the unnamed macaw chicks are old enough, they will be released back out into the wild.

The chicks were found near Cañaza.

Cañaza is a small region north of Puerto Jiménez on the Osa Peninsula on the west side of Costa Rica. It’s near the Reserva Forestal Golfo Dulce, a 56,000 hectare rainforest preserve.

Castles is the director of Hatched to Fly Free, which is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2014 that operates in Costa Rica. Their mission is to establish connections with local communities in order to protect native macaw species.

Over the past eleven years, Castles has been responsible for raising and releasing over 150 macaws in Costa Rica.

Due to poaching and deforestation, there are currently less than 4000 scarlet macaws left in Costa Rica.