World Parrot Trust in Action Vol
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PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN PARROT CONSERVATION AVICULTURE AND WELFARE World Parrot Trust in action Vol. 13 No. 1 February 2001 Thick-billed Parrot Great Green Macaw Brazilian Macaws Cape Parrot Parrot Welfare psittacine (sit’å sîn) belonging or allied to the parrots; parrot-like C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y Thick-billed Parrot s Field Observations and History by DR ALAN LURIE and DR NOEL SNYDER It is late afternoon and we ar e standing near the summit of a Editor 9,000 foot peak in the northern Rosemary Low, Sierra Madr e Occidental in Mexico. P.O. Box 100, A raucous call emanates from the south and a single Thick-billed Mansfield, Notts., Par rot, Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha, United Kingdom flies below us, northward across NG20 9NZ the valley. The parrot moves powerfully in a straight line, like a missile, calling all the while, until CONTENTS it disappears from view past the mountain slope. Thick-billed Parrot ..........2-4 Our journey to this spot began Tributes for M Reynolds ....5 well before dawn in Portal, Arizona. It has taken us across the Great Green Macaw..........6-7 deserts of norther n Chihuahua, View fr om the crest of the Sierra Madr e Occidental, showing the habitat of the Observing Brazilian through mud and rivers, up Thick-billed Par rots Photo: A Lurie precarious mountain roads, and Macaws ............................8-9 into the high old growth pine superciliary stripes, bends of about 8% heavier than females. wings, carpal edges and thighs. Living with Lear’s ........10-11 forests so crucial for these birds Thick-billed Parr ots and the and so endangered by relentless They have brownish markings in extinct Carolina Parakeets ar e the Parent-rearing ..............12-13 logging. We have come to observe front of the eyes, yellow greater only parrots whose natural ranges underwing-coverts and grayish Cape Parrot ......................14 the Thickbills in their most included the continental United northerly nesting habitat undersurfaces of remiges and States. The stronghold of the Parrot Welfare ..................15 presently known and to reflect on rectrices. Their legs and feet are Thick-billed Parr ots, has always how they live, why they gray, their bills are black, their been the Sierra Madre Occidental Psitta News ..................16-17 disappeared from the United iris is orange-yellow and they of Mexico, but the species was have yellowish-orange Tampa Roundup ..............18 States and on what the future may also found in substantial numbers hold for them. periopthalmic bare skin rings. in southeastern Arizona and WPT Info Page ..................19 Juvenile bir ds differ in that they southwestern New Mexico in earlier times. While br eeding Parr ots in the Wild ..........20 Appearance and have largely white upper mandibles, a dark iris, gray colonies were never formally history periopthalmic rings, reduced red r ecorded north of the border, Adult Thick-billed Parrots are on the thighs and a lack of red these birds were annually seen in bright green, lighter and more superciliary stripes, wing bends good numbers during breeding yellowish on cheeks and ear and carpal edges. There is no season in the Chiricahua coverts, with bright r ed obvious sexual dimorphism in Mountains, making it likely that foreheads, forecrowns, adults, although males average they did, in fact, raise families in the United States. Thick-billed Parr ots suffered massively from shooting in the U.S. and were essentially gone from U.S. territory by 1920. Their gar rulousness, relatively large Cover Picture size and tame inquisitive The ability to extract seeds behaviour, sadly made them easy from pine cones is cr ucial for targets for subsistence-hunting the survival of Thick-billed prospectors and other early Parrots and takes months to develop in fledglings, settlers. Occasional sighting necessitating a long period of continued until 1938 in Arizona dependency on their par ents. and until 1964 in New Mexico, but no par rots were recorded Photo & copyright Noel Snyder thereafter until a few captives The World Parr ot Trust does not were released to the wild in the necessarily endorse any views or late 1980's. statements made by contributors Thick-billed Parr ots, which are to PsittaScene. CITES Appendix 1 listed, have It will of course consider articles or letters from any contributors on become endangered in their their merits. r emaining Mexican strongholds, All contents © World Parr ot Tr ust Toyota 4 Runner ascending the road in the nor thern Sierra Madre Occidental principally because of extensive Photo: A Lurie lumbering of old-growth pine 2 ■ PsittaScene Volume 13, No 1, February 2001 M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K forests. Where flocks of thousands once flew, now only about 500-2,000 pairs survive in the wild. Numbers in captivity have been hard to document, as almost all were captured illegally. Habitat During the breeding season from July through September, Thick- billed Parrots live high in the conifer forests of the norther n Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains, mainly in Durango and Chihuahua. They prefer altitude nesting and this might relate mainly to the availability of their primar y food trees - Mexican white Thick-billed Par rot feeding on Chihuahua Pine cone pine, Arizona pine and Durango Photo: N Snyder Nestling Thick-billed Parr ot in nest hole Photo: N Snyder pine - and to an absence of nest predation threats from arboreal Day two - Morning cone, depending birds that feed on pine seeds, do snakes. Nesting is timed to From various directions male on the cone species. Mexican not appear to store food, although coincide with the monsoon season, parrots can be heard noisily white pines, with their large they have been seen raiding the when most conifers are fruiting. leaving their nest trees to head seeds, appear to be favoured, granaries of acorn woodpeckers, even though the cones are so much to the displeasure of the Our trip has been timed to of f for their first foraging of the day. They will return at intervals heavy that they ar e difficult for latter. Water is generally taken coincide with the height of the the par rot to hold and are from potholes in cliffs or from the nesting season. We drove into the through the day to feed their mates at their nests, then head off frequently dropped inadvertently. tops of waterfalls, where the Mexican state of Chihuahua, the With this pine species, the parrots parrots can have a clear view of largest state in the country. again to join other parrots in resumed foraging. sometimes refrain from clipping the approach of predators and For several hours the route is the cones free from the branches have a clear downward flight path across dry desert, interr upted by and work on them in place, for escape. They rarely drink from stretches of wheel-spinning mud Food, language and hanging upside down, although streams in the bottoms of created by recent cloudbursts. natural predators their ability to extract seeds is canyons. Jostling along, we ford rivers, hamper ed when the cones remain Thick-billed Par rots mainly feed Thick-billed Parrots have a variety drive up stream beds and finally attached to the branches. of vocalizations, which they use begin to climb high into the on the seeds of pine trees. Working in small flocks, they Other foods in the Thick-bill diet for alerting flock members to the mountains on a one-lane track include acorns, juniper berries, approach of predators, flock that is barely passable in dry normally clip cones from the branches and then thoroughly agave flower nectar, cherry fruits integration, territorial interactions weather and a major challenge in and insects. An interesting and soliciting food from mates the rainy season. Progress is slow shred the cones with their bills in a systematic spiral fashion. They component of the diet is tree bark and parents. Under the tutelage of and we reach our destination only - an item found in the diet of their parents, the chicks begin near the end of the day. star t from the base and end at the apex, r emoving each seed as they some Amazona parrots as well. vocalizations early and appear to Near the top, we encounter pr ogress. They eat seeds from a Reasons for eating tr ee bark are have the full complement of freshly cut old pine trees - an variety of conifers, including unknown, but the material is a vocalizations when they fledge. ominous finding that timbering various pinons, Douglas fir, frequent component found in During flight, a flock will be has occurr ed on ejido lands Apache pine, Chihuahua pine and sampling the crops of nestling garrulously calling, sounding like supposedly reserved fr om cutting. Mexican white pine. It takes a parrots and must have some laughing children. Feeding flocks Nearby, we pull off into a lupin parrot from one to 20 minutes to impor tant function in the diet. often post sentinels, who scan meadow and head to a rise giving consume the seeds from a single Thick-bills, unlike some other intently for predators. An alarm a view of several known nest trees call from a sentinel will put the from past years. These are all entire flock into instantaneous huge dead pine and fir snags with flight and the birds are normally their tops broken off.