A Parrot Without A Name By Don Stap

A Parrot Without A Name, by Don Stap, is an adventurous biography/  discovery of a new breed of parrot that was never found before in the Peruvian jungles of Peru. Stap began his journey by setting out in a canoe with ornithologists Ted Parker, and John O’Neill. John O’Neill, who was the first ornithologist to get inside of the canoe decided to travel to Pucallpa, which was also known as the southern most poor peninsula of Peru. The main reason that he decided to travel to Pucallpa with Don and Ted, were for two reasons, and those reasons were, so that they could learn more, and enhance their expertise in the field of ornithology, and learn more about being a curator of birds. After arriving in Peru, this is where all of the “fun” began to happen. When they arrived in Pucallpa, all three men immediately went to the Pucallpa seito Ornithology center. While at the center, a person who was a main beneficial factor for all of the lost birds in Peru at the center was a man named John Belueo, who was a Peruvian scientist, and ornithologist that spent most of his free time in Peru, training new comers that were eager and very experienced and interested in birds, how to go about becoming a curator for the center in Peru, so that they could collect their data for the center that they worked at in their hometown, and compare the results that they received from the data. In Ted and John’s case, as soon as they arrived, there was a bit of a compromise made, as far as the learning went, John agreed that he would teach them some tips about being a curator, along with showing them the never before seen parrot lets in the Peruvian jungle that did not have names, because they were never documented, and never have been seen by real civilization. This information that John was giving them was in exchange for the knowledge of research, and the knowledge of Parrots that were of a different species that were in the United States, that they had been researching for decades, upon time.  As the chapters, and months went by, while they were in Peru, learning how to be curators, they then one day all went to the Mervokian Jungle, which was a jungle, off the east coast of Peru, where they found a different distinct type of parrotlet, that they, along with nobody in the world, had ever seen before. This Parrotlet, was much larger, and more distinct in colors. The words exclaimed by O’neill, were indescribable , in the United States, this type of bird had never been seen, or even come close to being seen. The relation that this bird could have come close to in Parker’s point of view was a very rainbow, or colorful bald eagle type of bird, that ad very distinct large claws, a small head, a very sharp beak, and a larger robust upper body. Now, well to get to the main reason why this book pertains to science, and is so important, is because of the birds themselves. Birds are a main source to our ecosystems, and if birds were removed from our eco system, then our eco system would be off for many reasons. Birds provide and carry out the process of pollination or seed dispersal, which helps benefits the trees and plants. Along with the transfer of pollination via birds, this process is very key, because it helps enable plants go through the process of fertilization, and reproduction, so that new plans can be reproduced into the ecosystem. Although A Parrot Without A Name  was clearly not based on the reproduction of plants, and birds, the research that Ted Parker, John O’Neill and Stap performed in their time in Peru, was all based on birds, how they react to their ecosystems, and finding different birds and parrots that were never ever seen before in other parts of the world, and were not marked and tagged, to be identified. This book overall affects the bird community and science community in general in a way that cannot be reversed. The imprint that Ted Parker, and John O’Neill left on the community of ornithologist was very open and adventurous. Ted and John both proved that just because you are in the field of science, and animals, does not mean that you cannot adventure the world, sight see places, and make your work more interesting tan ever. They both proved that work/research can be challenging at times, but also creative, explorative, and interesting, along with work being what you make it in the future. A quote at the end of the book by Ted Parker, exclaimed “ I will die doing what I love not only for myself, but for the people who have helped me, loved me, and worked with me and for me during the years of being an ornithologist”. Ted Parker died on the day of August 3, 1993 known world wide as a proud American ornithologist, who studied, loved, and cared for birds in the specific field of Neotropics.