Do Nascimento: Our convention on Crete will host speakers from 12 countries

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The aviculture has deep tradition in Europe. There is no doubt that countries like Germany, Switzerland or Netherlands would be considered as an aviculture world power. However, it’s surprising that in whole Europe there are not many significant international conventions except of the Loro Parque congress.

The owner of a bird park Amazonas Park on Crete would like to change this situation and that’s why he decided to organize the first year of a new convention on Crete. You can look forward to see speakers from 12 countries including such celebrities like Tony Silva and Eric Antheunisse from USA, Hans Zehnder from Switzerland and many others.

Anthony Catt, well known parrot breeder from Australia who is going to have a lecture on Crete, commented this event exclusively for ParrotsDailyNews:

„I am very pleased to have been given the opportunity to speak at Amazonas Park and will be speaking on keeping and breeding Black Cockatoos in Australia. I look forward to sharing my experiences with these wonderful birds.“

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The main organizer Patricio do Nascimento (c) Amazonas Park

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logo of Association for the protection of endangered bird species

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Tony Silva is delighted that aviculture is rising in new countries:

„Aviculture is experiencing a rebirth in many parts of the world. The breeders in these area are passionate about parrot keeping and are seeking information at an unprecedented level. The conference provides an excellent opportunity for these new hobbyists and breeders to learn about husbandry, breeding, hand-rearing and field work, which often applies to captive parrots whose social structure, general behavior and breeding must be understood to avoid problems related to aggression, infertility and a lack of breeding.“

Our website has an ambitious plan to create a complete dabatase of avicultural conventions all over the world and provide news on this kind of events. That’s why we made an interview with Patricio Do Nascimento who organizes convention on Crete.

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Patricio, you decided to follow an ambitious plan. You want to organize an international convention for bird breeders on Crete and you are going to host speakers from twelve countries. Are you the only organiser?

Yes, I’m the main organiser. We are financially supported by the belgian manufacturer of birdfood Deli Nature.

How was the idea born?

The main reason was the fact that there isn‘t any big avicultural convention focused on breeders of all birds. When any bigger event is organized then it was about parrots. I would like to focus on all groups of birds.

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We can find many rare parrot species in the collection of Amazonas park, just like this Palm Cockatoo (c) Amazonas Park

Palm Cockatoo (c) Amazonas Park

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It would be good to mention something about the schedule of convention, dates etc…

The convention takes place in Malia, Crete between 21st and 24th September. The first day we will have a welcome cocktail and introduce speakers. In the next three days, speakers will perform their lectures and in 24th September evening we are going to have a gala dinner.  

How much does it cost?

The fee for bird convention is 430 euro for attenders who registrate before the end of January or 490 euro before the end of July. We can arrange flights and accomodation for everybody who is going to attend this event.

I guess that aviculture doesn’t have deep tradition on Crete. You were born there?

No, my parents come from Portugal but I was born in Luxembourg. I visited Greece for the first time in 2002 and fell in love with this place immediately. Because I’ve been breeding with birds since I was a kid I decided to follow my dream and build here a bird park.

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Red-fronted Macaw (c) Amazonas Park

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It’s quite ambitious plan to move from Luxembourg on Crete and build there a bird park..

You are right. Just the paper work took me 7 years so I could start bulding in 2010. A year later, the bird park was open. At that time the whole facility was built on 1,3 hectares.

And how big is the property today?

Almost 3 hectares.

So I guess that the bird park is doing well…

Yes, I’m really surprised how good is it. Maybe it’s because we are the main tourist attraction in our region. What is more, Amazonas Park is the only ZOO on Crete. For example, through walk aviaries are really popular for our visitors who can feed toucans or monkeys there.

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Very rare Thick-billed Parrot (c) Amazonas Park

Rare small macaw species – Diopsittaca nobilis cumanensis (c) Amazonas Park

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You have mentioned that the convention is sponsored by Deli Nature. You pay the rest of expenses?

Yes, the expenses are shared by Amazonas Park and Deli Nature. We have also a few members of our Association for the protection of endangered bird species who support such activities.

When I see your logo, there is writing Switzerland-Crete. Why Switzerland?

That’s because I bought a breeding center there where I keep a large collection of parrots.

Are you focused on some specific species?

We have rare species too but our priority is to keep wide diversity. So number of species is more important to us.

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Amazonas Park (c) Amazonas Park

(c) Amazonas Park

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You have mentioned that you are part of the Association for the protection of endangered bird species. Do you also protect some bird species in situ?

We have many plans for future in the protection of the wild bird species. We want to be part of long-term projects not any short-term conservation programs which take one or two years. And if we decide to start something like that then we will finish it. Our first project is conservation of the Thick-billed Parrot in Mexico where we cooperate with University of Monterrey and Dr. Ernesto Enkerlin Hoefflich who is a great expert in this area. Amazonas Park is the only sponsor of this project.

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CLICK TO ENLARGE

The list of speakers

Information about the convention

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 Title photo: (c) Amazonas Park

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