When I posted about the now extinct Carolina Parakeet yesterday I was very careful to say that it was North America’s only endemic mainland parrot. Similarly when I wrote about the Puerto Rican Parrot I was careful to say that it was the last native parrot still breeding within US borders. I had to be very precise because as I’m sure people would quickly point out there are probably twenty non-native parrot species now breeding in the lower forty-eight, whilst another parrot species has in the past bred in both Arizona and New Mexico but no longer does so - the Thick-billed Parrot Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha, an Endangered somewhat macaw-like parrot now confined entirely to Mexico.

This post is of course about the Thick-billed Parrot, its disappearing habitat, and what’s being done to protect the remaining population. Part of the account that follows - and ALL of the gorgeous images - comes via Steve Milpacher, Business Development Manager of the World Parrot Trust (WPT). He very kindly sent me a .pdf of an article he wrote about a visit to Mexico to study the Thick-billed Parrot’s breeding ecology which was published in Issue 20.4/Nov 2008 edition of the WPT’s excellent magazine ‘PsittaScene’. The WPT has given me a great deal of help putting together ‘Parrot Month’ and I’d just like to express my thanks again to both Steve and Dr Jamie Gilardi, WPT’s executive-director, for their support and encouragement.

The Thick-billed Parrot: Mexico and beyond?

Unlike most parrot species which live in tropical habitats at low elevation, are sedentary or short distance migrants and are territorial, Thick-billed Parrots Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha live above 1500m in temperate forests, are migratory and nomadic in winter when food becomes short, and are social at all seasons.

Determinedly different, they live in the conifer forests of the mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental, a range of rugged mountains 100 to 200 km wide and 1200 km long running parallel to the Pacific Ocean and extending from northwest Chihuahua and Sonora to the central part of Michoacán in Mexico.

Until relatively recently Thick-billed Parrots ranged as far north as southern Arizona in the United States where it probably bred until the early 1900s [it's interesting to note though that Dr Alan Lurie and Dr Noel Snyder writing in the World Parrot Trust's 'PsittaScene' magazine in Feb 2001 said that "breeding colonies were never formally recorded north of the [Mexican] border” though the article does go on to say that “good numbers were seen in [Arizona's] Chiricahua Mountains making it likely that they did indeed raise families in the United States”]. Extensively shot throughout its small North American range (it was also found in New Mexico at one time) the parrot was extirpated from Arizona by the 1920s, and whatever its recent status in the US the breeding range is now restricted to the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Durango.

Recently designated as Endangered by Birdlife International it’s illuminating to discover - given how much we all seem to know (or to be able to find on the web) about so many bird species now - just how little data concerning population numbers exists. Writing in the third edition of his superb magnum opus “Parrots of the World”, Joseph Forshaw wrote that “Edwards (1972) claims that they are moderately common” and he states that Robert Ridgely in 1977 wrote in litt that “…logging has, over the past century, removed from many districts most or all mature trees…[and] it is probable that the parrots have declined in numbers”. Nearly all recent nests have been found above 2400m, and the species is dependent on high-elevation pines for both nesting cavities (which were often originally excavated by woodpeckers) and for food (the species feeds predominantly on pine and fir cones, though acorns and other seeds are eaten as well) and - as Ridgely suspected - Thick-billed Parrots have suffered massively as the region’s forests have been systematically cut down.

While they can apparently persist in partly-logged areas so long as there are a few large nest trees, Thick-billed Parrots are more abundant in large old-growth forests - and most of those old-growth forests no longer exist. Less than 10% of the original (ie old-growth) forest in the Sierra Madre Occidental ecoregion now remains. As an indication just how severe logging in the region was in the latter half of the twentieth century, in 1979 a pulp mill in Chihuahua was consuming 1.800 tonnes of wood per day. In some areas nests occur preponderantly in snags of Douglas Fir and Mexican White Pine, while in Madera the parrots mainly use Aspens. Typically commercial logging operations throughout the Sierra Madre have involved the removal of the larger pines of all three species, and standing dead wood has been cut leaving few snags. Specific data isn’t available but it’s impossible to think that such intensive logging isn’t the reason for the steep decline of this beautiful and very specialised species.

A fledgling Thick-billed Parrot

A young Thick-billed Parrot (note the pale bill and reduced amount of red on the head). Chicks are handled quickly and quietly during routine nest checks, and weights and measurements are taken to assess growth progress. All the photos on this page are copyright of both Dr Jamie Gilardi and Steve Milpacher of the World Parrot Trust and are used with permission.

From being ‘moderately common’ in recent times, the wild population was estimated at fewer than 5,000 birds in 1992, and between 1,000-4,000 in 1995. In 2004, an extrapolated survey gave a population between 3,000-6,000 individuals, including c.2,800 mature birds, but these figures may represent an over-estimation as not all of the nest cavities surveyed are used every year. Anecdotal observations by the rural residents of ejidos (communally owned lands/co-operatives) indicate a continued general decline in flock sizes and the frequency of sightings throughout its range, including the disappearance of some local populations. In the two Important Bird Areas that support the species (Baserac-Sierra Tabaco-Rio Bavispe IBA and the Mesa de Guacamayas IBA) flock sizes have drastically decreased at waterfalls and other historical feeding and watering areas. Current estimates put the world population of the Thick-billed Parrot at less than 2000…

What of the future for the Thick-billed Parrot?

Of the 22 parrot species found in Mexico, seven are listed by BirdLife International as either endangered or vulnerable. It’s not just habitat destruction that has led to this: huge numbers of wild parrots - including Thick-billeds - have been captured by professional trappers or by locals who keep the birds for themselves. The smuggling of wild parrots into the US from Mexico has been called the second-largest illegal border business next to drug smuggling.

A paragraph on the website of the American University (unfortunately undated but probably from the 1990s) quotes a half-joking special agent for the Fish and Wildlife Service:

“I’d tell someone not to go into drugs. Go into bird smuggling. It is a much safer option, you probably will not get caught and the profit margins are comparable to those in drugs too. Parrots that cost $15 apiece in Mexico garner $250 to $1,500 in the United States and some are sold as high as $10,000 at flea markets and pet stores.”

Fortunately this appalling situation does seem to have improved recently. In 2007 a joint report, “The Illegal Parrot Trade in Mexico: A Comprehensive Assessment”, by U.S. conservation group Defenders of Wildlife and the Mexican organization Teyeliz, A.C., detailed the full extent of the impact of the Mexican parrot trade on wild species. According to the report, some 78,500 parrots and macaws have been caught in Mexico each year, with a horrendous 50-60,000 of these dying before they ever reach a purchaser.

So compelling were the data that the Mexican Senate passed a bill in April 2008 banning the legal capture and export of wild parrots (Mexico was one of the few countries in the western hemisphere which allowed the legal commercial exploitation of their native parrots until this ban) with only one abstention and no votes against. How enforceable this law is when the border between Mexico and the US (the nearest “overseas” market for Mexican parrots) is so porous is anyone’s guess though. A report in the 1990s estimated then that every year some 25,000 parrots were being smuggled across the Rio Grande into the United States and border towns have grown significantly since then…

Writing in PsittaScene (specifically about the Madera region he visited but the problems are fundamentally the same throughout the bird’s range) Steve Milpacher made a number of suggestions for securing the future of the Thick-billed Parrot. As there’s no possibility that I could come up with an alternative list of my own that would rival or add anything useful to Steve’s I think it’s best just to reproduce his text in full:

1. Securing more land in a protected sanctuary in Madera, the size of which is being discussed as of late 2008. This action is the result of efforts by federal and local governments, and community groups.
2. Engaging local communities to use their natural resources in a sustainable manner through increased education. This ensures that the biodiversity of the area is preserved for animals and humans alike.
3. Intensively managing captive populations to prepare them for potential releases in future years to re-establish the birds in parts of their former range.
4. Continuing the development of translocation and captive release techniques as a management tool for wild and captive birds.
5. Undertaking genetic research to determine how best to manage both the wild and the captive bird populations ensuring the species’ long-term genetic viability.
6. Conducting disease research, particularly focussing on West Nile virus, an important disease in both people and captive Thick-billed Parrots.
7. Studying the effects of global warming on the remaining habitat (evident in increased destructive fires and insect damage).
8. Introducing ecotourism and craft development projects to bring income to the local people and to encourage non-consumptive use of habitat areas

Similarly, Dr Tiberio Monterrubio wrote in an article that I found on The Parrot Society’s website:

Where cavity availability is minimal, artificial nests may be placed and their use and suitability should be evaluated. Additional research on food availability in nesting and wintering areas and how it relates to success rates and reproduction should start soon. The research on the key factors regulating parrot abundance, productivity and survival should continue. If protected areas are designated, protection of breeding habitat and food supply may both be required. Finally, the establishment of a network of protected areas in the entire Sierra Madre should be considered not only to protect breeding habitat but to preserve food supply in the wintering areas as a strategy to preserve the Thick-billed Parrot and the associated bird communities in high elevation forests of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

Adult Thick-billed Parrots at the entrance to a nest cavity in Madera.
Copyright Jamie Gilardi/World Parrot Trust and used with permission.

Efforts to conserve what remains of the Sierra Madre’s forests have of course been ongoing for some years. In 2000 a coalition of conservation organizations including The Wildlands Project, Pronatura, Naturalia, Monterrey Tec, Sierra Madre Alliance, and Wildlife Preservation Trust International entered into a remarkable agreement with a local land cooperative (known in Mexico as an “ejido”) that owns land containing a large number of nesting Thick-billed Parrots. The group agreed to compensate the cooperative about $250,000 over 15 years in return for not logging sections of the land important for parrots and other wildlife. For more information on this innovative and important project please see the Wildlands Project website.

Additionally - and a much longer bet because it’s a very expensive option - efforts to re-establish extirpated populations in Arizona should perhaps be championed assuming the relevant habitats can be secured and protected. Re-establishing a population in Arizona would provide an extension of range into suitable habitat that is not threatened by logging, and would protect the species as a whole from being decimated by natural or man made disasters in Mexico. There would need to be corridors to other populations to provide for dispersal (and therefore gene flow) between populations, but - if the money can be found - it would be a hugely important step in providing a future for yet another very rare and very threatened parrot…

Useful links:

• The World Parrot Trust are running a campaign for the conservation of the Thick-billed Parrot. Please go to www.parrots.org/thickbills.

  The World Parrot Trust also has some excellent photos at http://www.parrots.org/index.php/encyclopedia/wildstatus/thick_billed_parrot/

• The Sierra Madre Alliance is an organization that works with many groups in the Sierra Madre Occidental to ensure the old-growth forests and the many organisms and indigenous tribes that rely on them can be preserved. For a detailed overview and more information, please visit: http://www.planeta.com/planeta/99/0799sierra.html
• The Phoenix Zoo is a key player in Thick-billed Parrot Restoration in the United States. For more info on how you can help, please go to: http://www.phoenixzoo.org/zoo/animals/tbillparrot.asp
• A short video, ‘Bird News Network Video Release Number 7 - November 2008 Thick-billed Parrot’ made by the American Bird Conservancy is on YouTube at http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/video/tb_parrot_bnn7.html

References:

Milpacher S. “Rays of Hope for a declining species”, PsittaScene, Novemeber 2008

Low R. ‘Endangered Parrots’, Blandford Press, 1984

Lurie, A. and Snyder, N. ‘Thick-billed Parrots, Field Observations and History’. PsittaScene Vol. 13 No.1 February 2001.

Efforts to preserve the Thick-Billed Parrot in North Western Mexico By Tiberio Monterrubio PhD. (Mexico). http://www.theparrotsocietyuk.org/index.php/Conservation_Article_5/39

http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/recreation/birding/documents/Thick-billedParrotBringsBirdersToEngle.htm

We’ve worked hard to put this ‘Parrot Month’ theme together, and now we have a favour to ask of you: the only reason that we’re posting all this information is to promote awareness of the threats that parrots face in the wild and to promote the organisations and individuals working to save them. If you share our concerns then PLEASE link to this page or post a short article asking your readers to have a look. You just never know who’s reading, and you never know who might be inspired to help. Thanks.