Parrot reintroduction program cleared for test flight

Captive Puerto Rican parrots will be released into a forest in eastern Puerto Rico, where a wild population still flies free

June 14, 2000
Web posted at: 10:57 a.m. EDT (1457 GMT)

By Environmental News Network staff

When Christopher Columbus stepped onto Puerto Rican soil in 1492, the Puerto Rican parrot population was abundant.

Agustin Valido of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tells of a Spanish naturalist visiting Puerto Rico in the early 1500s who observed a flock of parrots flying overhead. The flock was so large that it obscured the sun and caused the sky to grow dark.

Habitat destruction, hunting, natural predation and the capture of parrots for pets have taken their toll on this vivid green bird over the last 500 years. The wild population of the Puerto Rican parrot is now down to a meager 40 members, making it one of the 10 most endangered bird species in the world, according to Valido, field supervisor at the FWS' Rio Grande field office in Puerto Rico. About 120 Puerto Rican parrots live in captivity at two aviaries on the island.

In a effort to head off extinction of the species, the FWS, U.S. Forest Service and Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources are collaborating to release birds raised in captivity into the Caribbean National Forest of eastern Puerto Rico, home to the last wild population.

On June 27 scientists involved in the initiative will release 10 captive-bred young adult parrots into the rain forest. They will free six more in August in the same area. The hope is that the introduced birds, none yet 2 years old, will mingle with the current wild population and establish themselves before the expected onset of hurricanes in September.

The three agencies have worked together to aid in the recovery of the Puerto Rican parrot population for several years, but the current plan is a new and ambitious one. Past attempts have focused on foster programs whereby captive-bred parrot chicks were placed with parents in the wild population.

"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," said Jaime Collazo, associate professor of zoology at North Carolina State University. Collazo is working on the program in association with the FWS.

"We are finally implementing a more aggressive recovery action," he said. "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."

Scientists involved in the recovery program tried out the new parrot reintroduction method by conducting a two-year test run with the Puerto Rican parrots' closest relative, the Hispaniola parrot.

From 1996 to 1998, the researchers released 49 Hispaniola parrots into Parque Nacional del Este, or National Park of the East, at the southeastern tip of the Dominican Republic. The group learned several important lessons during this experiment, which informed their preparations the Puerto Rican parrot program:

• Before release, the birds must be taken to the release site for an acclimation period of two to four weeks.
• They must be given foods native to the area to familiarize themselves with what they will encounter when released.
• They must undergo an exercise regimen that allows for the maximum development of flight muscles.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service operates a parrot aviary in the Caribbean National Forest of Puerto Rico

In short, stronger birds acquainted with the surroundings and food sources in the area were more likely to remain with the wild birds and forage over a larger area.

The scientists presented the results of this research this past weekend at the Society for Conservation Biology's annual conference at the University of Montana in Missoula in Montana.

The cooperating agencies intend to release captive-raised Puerto Rican parrots every year or every other year in the hope that there will be at least 100 Puerto Rican parrots in the wild in the next decade. The scientists will monitor the released birds using radio telemetry.

Government agencies are seeking funding to establish a large preserve in the Rio Abajo rain forest of central Puerto Rico, where they hope more of the endangered parrots will be introduced into the wild.

Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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Puerto Rican parrot
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Forest Service
   •Caribbean National Forest
Jaime Collazo
Conservation Biology's annual conference North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

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