Find out about Rosemary Low.

Rosemary Low is a British aviculturist, ornithologist, conservationist, writer and expert on Parrots.

She started her career as a writer for the magazine, Cage and Aviary Birds. At that time, she had a collection of about 50 Parrots.

Career

She later spent nearly eight years in the Canary Islands where she was curator of two major collections of Parrots, first at Loro Parque on Tenerife and subsequently at Palmitos Park on Gran Canaria.

In 1989 she was a cofounder of the World Parrot Trust, editing its magazine, PsittaScene, until 2004.

Rosemary Low started her birdkeeping activities with Budgerigars. Her first Parrot arrived when she was 16, an African Grey. Between the ages of 20 and 30 she started to keep neotropical Parrots and Lories and lorikeets.

During nearly eight years in the Canary Islands she was curator of two of the world’s largest Parrot collections, Loro Parque in Tenerife and Palmitos Park in Gran Canaria. She now lives in the UK with her wonderful Lories and Lorikeets.

Rosemary Low has published hundreds of articles in magazines in many countries. She has had more than 20 books published on Parrots, including:

• Parrots: Their care and breeding (three editions and three languages)
• Endangered Parrots
• Encyclopedia of the Lories
• Why does my Parrot…? .
• Cockatoos in Aviculture
• Caiques
• Amazon Parrots: Aviculture, trade and conservation
• A Century of Parrots (the history of Parrots in the 20th century).

Her books have been translated into German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and the Czech language. Her latest book is

• Go West For Parrots! (A South American Odyssey)

Editor

In 1989 she was a co-founder of The World Parrot Trust and edited its magazine, PsittaScene, from its inception that year until 2004. Her interest in conservation, fund-raising for conservation projects and in the welfare of captive Parrots has long overtaken that of breeding in captivity.

She no longer breeds Parrots (keeping them solely for pleasure), as she has no wish to add to the numbers in captivity. Through her writings and through a local Parrot club that she founded in 2000, she does her utmost to give guidance to people on keeping their Parrots happy and healthy.

Rosemary has stated that her three main goals are:

• to widely publish information which will lead to a better standard of care for captive birds
• to reduce the demand for wild-caught Parrots
• to promote and assist with Parrot conservation

Conventions

She has travelled widely, speaking at conventions in many countries and at four of the six Loro Parque Conventions. She has observed over 100 species of Parrots in the wild in more than 30 countries.

Watching birds in their natural habitat, from the critically endangered Kakapo in New Zealand to tiny Pygmy Parrots in New Guinea, and the world’s largest Parrot colony in Argentina, is her greatest thrill. Her most satisfying moment: January 12 2007 when the news came that a permanent ban had been placed on the importation of wild-caught birds into EU countries.

Read all her fact sheets here.