Reintroducing Endangered Parrots into Puerto Rican Forests

by Beth Shery Sisk, member, Real Macaw Parrot Club

With only 40 Puerto Rican parrots left in the wild, the species is pretty close to extinction. However, Dr. Jaime Collazo, an associate professor of zoology at North Carolina State University, refuses to let that happen. And, in a move aimed at improving the species’ chance of survival, he has laid the groundwork for the first large-scale release of captive-bred Puerto Rican parrots into the wild.
On June 27, Dr. Collazo and a group of scientists will release ten of the captive parrots in the Caribbean National Forest in extreme eastern Puerto Rico, and will free six more in August. “It may not sound like a whole lot to release that many birds, but when there are so few in the wild, this is a big deal, an important milestone,” says Collazo, who is assistant unit leader in the North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at NC State. “We are finally implementing a more aggressive recovery action; up to this point, only one to three captive-bred chicks per year could be added to the wild population by way of a fostering program.” That approach hasn’t worked very well since there are so few breeding pairs in the wild in any given year.
It is believed that the Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata) has been common to the area since before Columbus arrived in the Americas. By the 1950s, however, the native population dwindled to only a couple hundred birds, and by 1973, there were only 13 birds seen living in the wild—all in the Caribbean National Forest. Deforestation is considered the main reason for the population decline, with hunting, natural predation, and the pet trade as other contributing factors.
Conservation efforts have had some impact on the birds’ population in recent years, growing to at least 47 birds in 1989. But half the birds were lost when Hurricane Hugo pounded Puerto Rico that September. In addition to the wild bird population, 120 Puerto Rican parrots are kept in captivity at two aviaries.
Collazo feels that in addition to boosting the wild population, the planned releases of the captive-raised birds will help maintain the long-range viability of the species in the face of natural catastrophes. “The Puerto Rican parrot hasn’t been able to establish a wild population of more than 40 or 50 birds,” he says. “With these releases, we hope to break this demographic inertia.”
This is not the first time Dr. Collazo is trying this method out. He, along with Dr. Franscisco J. Vilella of Mississippi State University, and Dr. Thomas H. White of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, spent two years practicing their techniques using the Puerto Rican parrots’ closest relation, the Hispaniolan parrot (Amazona ventralis). Working in Parque Nacional del Este (National Park of the East) at the southeastern tip of the Dominican Republic, the research team released 49 Hispaniolan parrots between 1996 to 1998.
From that experience, Dr. Collazo and his colleagues learned several important lessons. Before the release, the birds must be brought to and kept in the release area for about two to four weeks to get acclimated to their surroundings. They must be offered the food that’s available there so that they’ll recognize the native offerings when released. And, they must be given an exercise regimen to allow their flight muscles to develop fully. Dr. Collazo feels that strong birds, familiar with their surroundings and foods, are more likely to join and remain with wild birds, and to forage for food over a larger area, which is a key to their survival.
The release was planned for June since it is still far ahead of the September hurricane season peak. Hispaniolan parrots that released several months before Hurricane Georges hit the Dominican Republic in September 1998 were better able to survive the food shortage caused by the storm.
Collazo explains the research in the Dominican Republic was also useful because the limestone formation of the park is similar to that of the Rio Abajo area in north-central Puerto Rico, where the researchers hope to establish a second flock of Puerto Rican parrots in three to five years. “You’re not putting all your eggs in the same basket, so with the next Hugo you’re more likely to have an unaffected population,” he says of establishing a second population. The federal and Puerto Rican government agencies are seeking funding to establish a large preserve in the Rio Abajo area to help ensure the success of that future reintroduction project, Collazo says.
Scientists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources are hoping to release captive-raised Puerto Rican parrots every year or every other year. Collazo, who previously worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, and a Dominican student at the University of Puerto Rico, Jose Luis Hernandez, will monitor the released birds using radio telemetry. Within a decade, Collazo hopes there will be at least 100 Puerto Rican parrots in the wild.



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