Bob Elgas is trying to ensure that hyacinth macaws and other rare birds will be around in the future.He has no formal education in the study of birds but is not deterred.’I just read and studied,’ he says.His lack of formal training has not hampered the success he has had rearing macaws and other rare birds on his refuge.He also has Tule geese, whose genus carries his name.When he first started studying geese, none of the professionals believed that they were a separate species.Elgas finally got permission to study them in California and, after five years, captured a live one and supervised the detailed analysis that showed it was a separate species.The Smithsonian described the goose and named it ’Anser albifrons elgasi’ after the Big Timber, Montana, aviculturist.Elgas followed his California fieldwork with an expedition to Cook Inlet in Alaska, where he found the geese breeding ground and obtained goslings for future breeding.Today descendants of those original birds roam the refuge grounds.Elgas has recently cut back on the flock of captive birds he keeps on the refuge so he can devote more time to breeding macaws, whose future he believes is dim.The birds hatch their own eggs and take care of the chicks for the first two weeks.Then Elgas takes them away to rear under conditions designed to increase survival.For example, he uses old incubators obtained from a local hospital in Billings to keep the chicks warm until they reach an age when they can generate their own body heat.He feeds them by filling a syringe with the concoction and shooting it down their throats.According to the International Wild Waterfowl Association, an organization established in 1958, some 500 members take an active role in private captive breeding programs for rare waterfowl and other rare species of birds.For Elgas, conserving birds is a labor of love.He pays for care of his macaws and other birds through the sale of common parrot species raised on his refuge and through the sale of his wildlife paintings.He has spent the better part of his adult life rearing rare birds with much success.Both he and his wife, Elizabeth, were recently inducted into the International Wild Waterfowl Association’s Waterfowl Breeders Hall of Fame.Still, he is quite humble about his accomplishments.’You can cover a lot of sins by being determined,’ he says.Spoken like a true entrepreneur.Out of Africa and into Texas