Stormy Weather for the Puerto Rican Parrot
Rachel Pressley | December 2017
Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and time travel with me back to the year 1987. It’s 4 a.m. and we’re heading up a mountainside in Puerto Rico to hike multiple miles into the dark depths of the old-growth El Yunque National Forest. As we try to get into the blinds before sunrise, it is pitch black, birds are chirping, the river is roaring, and we are dressed dark from head to toe. Moving at a fast pace, we enter the river and trek carefully down and out to cover our tracks as we go, for fear that we may be followed.
Followed? You may ask. Why?
We are hiking with wildlife ecologist Becky Abel and her conservation colleagues to monitor the nests of the well-known and gravely endangered Puerto Rican Parrots. These conservationists are their nest guardians and, as there are only four nests in the entirety of the world situated right here in this forest, we must protect them from the monsters that want to capture them for profit in the black market.
You see, the Puerto Rican Parrot, a neotropical species endemic to the island, is in the ranking for the most endangered bird in the world according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List. This species once had a robust population, but began declining due to a variety of encounters with human activity and catastrophic weather patterns. Farmers killed them, as they were slow flyers that feasted on the corn that grew around their partially deforested home - the rainforest of Puerto Rico. These parrots have been poached and sold for their unique appearance and supplied as a source of food. Aside from human involvement toward their demise, mongoose and redtailed hawks, serve as their predators, as well as pearly-eyed thrashers, avian natural predators that attack the parrots’ eggs and chicks. Becky tells me that once she saw a Puerto Rican Boa trying to get to the cavity where the birds lived.
Becky tells us as we run through the forest that the Puerto Rican Parrots are very close to her heart. She explains that they have countless special qualities and serve as a symbol of larger ecological issues present in the world. They are a species that attracts avid birders and tourists, forcing them to instill close monitoring for protection. They nest in the Palo Colorado zone and forage in the Dwarf forest region as they prefer fertile and moist lowland forests among the coastal plains and forested mountain valleys. Here they feed on small fruits, seeds, leaves, flowers and bark – mainly kudzu.
As we reach our stopping point, we all sit down to rest up until the sun has risen.
It’s 8 a.m. I crack one eye open, then the other. Light beams through the tallest trees I have ever seen. I glance up 15 meters and see a cavity in the old-growth tree. This is a home of the parrots. As the rest of the group wakes up at a distance away from us, I sit in the blinds with Becky, thinking back to the hike a few hours earlier in when she had begun to describe the birds to me as if they are the most exquisite creatures on this Earth. I can’t wait to see them.
Once everyone was awake, we tried to get a closer view through the blinds. The blinds, permanent wooden structures with one hole, are positioned 50 feet from the wild nests to help us watch over the nest cavity and to make sure that no predators can harm them. It is hard to see much inside the nest, so we sit back and wait patiently for them to make an appearance. We are going to spend 12 hours out in the rainforest today, as we have to wait until nightfall to exit the forest. I am eagerly anticipating a glimpse of this species.
As we hiked in, Becky explained to me about what to expect when I see them. She told me they live for approximately 50 years in captivity, but far less in the wild, and are a monogamous species that breed with the same partner for life. They even dance together, she said. I think to myself, they find true love and never let it go.
She said they are bright green birds with two-toned blue primary feathers, black tips on the ends of the feathers and have flesh-colored legs. They have a red fore crown above their 30cm long beaks and white rings around their eyes. She told me that genetically, they do not have sexual dimorphism and that they grow to be approximately 12 inches long. Through time, Becky has come to recognize each individual bird by his or her different red markings above their beaks.
After climbing up the trees using pegs that are attached to the trunks in order to sit on the tree top lookouts, we do a population count as they swoop in and out of the rainforest. One hour into the watch atop the luscious green forest, Becky whispers into her walkie, “10 birds flying North East at 3 o’clock!” There they went. A distinctive squawk resonated from the flock. Becky tells me that while these birds are noisy and charismatic creatures, they belt a recognizable noise to one another in flight. It was truly a magical and exquisite sight and sound.
But change came to the Puerto Rican rainforest, including mass deforestation due to agricultural production, causing detrimental impacts to the habitats for the birds. The wild population of Puerto Rican parrots dwindled to a low point of 13 in 1973 and, after efforts to restore the species population, it increased greatly but was impacted by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, dividing the population count in half to 22. Listed as critically endangered in 1994, the parrots were moved to a lower part on the mountain known as Rio Abajo. Becky says that they really seem to be thriving here because it is less humid and much dryer. Two conservation release sites are on the island, while a third is being constructed. Fast forward through time with me to the 21st century. Extensive conservation efforts helped to bring the species back from the brink of extinction to a highly threatened population count of approximately 60 wild birds as of 2016.
Now, it’s 2017. Climate change, causing intense and fast occurring storms, lead to the devastation of hurricanes Irma and Maria that came to the island in the same month, destroying everything in their path, including the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Along with human losses, climate change intensified storms have extinguished the lives of countless animals. Currently, conservationists are aware of only four living Puerto Rican Parrots in El Yunque National Forest. Others with tracking devices attached suggest that they will not return, as they have most likely perished due to the storm’s powerful impact. Becky tells me that the wild population that was present in El Yunque is gone. While more birds survived in the wild Rio Abajo flock, they can hopefully repopulate within captive facilities, but allowing them to be released into the wild is a questionable act. The birds would not know how to fully survive and thrive with no habitat, no experience in the wild and with the threat of predators at every turn. They went through a genetic bottleneck, Becky says. They do not have enough genetic diversity to ensure their survival and if they were to be released, it would be a matter of inexact science.
The conservation group wants to access the nesting sites, but Becky reports that they are blocked off, preventing them from doing a true population census. While there is hope for the 240 birds in the aviaries that survived the storm, for captive breeding programs, reconstruction of artificial nest cavities, and for an eventual return to constant monitoring in the wild, the Puerto Rican Department of Natural Environmental Resources along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are focused on protecting the four wild birds that have so far returned to the island. While the Rio Abajo population has been re-sighted 35 of the 40 original flock count, catastrophic events continue to push this species to the brink of extinction. If the threatening climatic and anthropogenic trends continue, we could be bearing witness to the end of the Puerto Rican Parrots.
Rachel Pressley | December 2017
Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and time travel with me back to the year 1987. It’s 4 a.m. and we’re heading up a mountainside in Puerto Rico to hike multiple miles into the dark depths of the old-growth El Yunque National Forest. As we try to get into the blinds before sunrise, it is pitch black, birds are chirping, the river is roaring, and we are dressed dark from head to toe. Moving at a fast pace, we enter the river and trek carefully down and out to cover our tracks as we go, for fear that we may be followed.
Followed? You may ask. Why?
We are hiking with wildlife ecologist Becky Abel and her conservation colleagues to monitor the nests of the well-known and gravely endangered Puerto Rican Parrots. These conservationists are their nest guardians and, as there are only four nests in the entirety of the world situated right here in this forest, we must protect them from the monsters that want to capture them for profit in the black market.
You see, the Puerto Rican Parrot, a neotropical species endemic to the island, is in the ranking for the most endangered bird in the world according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List. This species once had a robust population, but began declining due to a variety of encounters with human activity and catastrophic weather patterns. Farmers killed them, as they were slow flyers that feasted on the corn that grew around their partially deforested home - the rainforest of Puerto Rico. These parrots have been poached and sold for their unique appearance and supplied as a source of food. Aside from human involvement toward their demise, mongoose and redtailed hawks, serve as their predators, as well as pearly-eyed thrashers, avian natural predators that attack the parrots’ eggs and chicks. Becky tells me that once she saw a Puerto Rican Boa trying to get to the cavity where the birds lived.
Becky tells us as we run through the forest that the Puerto Rican Parrots are very close to her heart. She explains that they have countless special qualities and serve as a symbol of larger ecological issues present in the world. They are a species that attracts avid birders and tourists, forcing them to instill close monitoring for protection. They nest in the Palo Colorado zone and forage in the Dwarf forest region as they prefer fertile and moist lowland forests among the coastal plains and forested mountain valleys. Here they feed on small fruits, seeds, leaves, flowers and bark – mainly kudzu.
As we reach our stopping point, we all sit down to rest up until the sun has risen.
It’s 8 a.m. I crack one eye open, then the other. Light beams through the tallest trees I have ever seen. I glance up 15 meters and see a cavity in the old-growth tree. This is a home of the parrots. As the rest of the group wakes up at a distance away from us, I sit in the blinds with Becky, thinking back to the hike a few hours earlier in when she had begun to describe the birds to me as if they are the most exquisite creatures on this Earth. I can’t wait to see them.
Once everyone was awake, we tried to get a closer view through the blinds. The blinds, permanent wooden structures with one hole, are positioned 50 feet from the wild nests to help us watch over the nest cavity and to make sure that no predators can harm them. It is hard to see much inside the nest, so we sit back and wait patiently for them to make an appearance. We are going to spend 12 hours out in the rainforest today, as we have to wait until nightfall to exit the forest. I am eagerly anticipating a glimpse of this species.
As we hiked in, Becky explained to me about what to expect when I see them. She told me they live for approximately 50 years in captivity, but far less in the wild, and are a monogamous species that breed with the same partner for life. They even dance together, she said. I think to myself, they find true love and never let it go.
She said they are bright green birds with two-toned blue primary feathers, black tips on the ends of the feathers and have flesh-colored legs. They have a red fore crown above their 30cm long beaks and white rings around their eyes. She told me that genetically, they do not have sexual dimorphism and that they grow to be approximately 12 inches long. Through time, Becky has come to recognize each individual bird by his or her different red markings above their beaks.
After climbing up the trees using pegs that are attached to the trunks in order to sit on the tree top lookouts, we do a population count as they swoop in and out of the rainforest. One hour into the watch atop the luscious green forest, Becky whispers into her walkie, “10 birds flying North East at 3 o’clock!” There they went. A distinctive squawk resonated from the flock. Becky tells me that while these birds are noisy and charismatic creatures, they belt a recognizable noise to one another in flight. It was truly a magical and exquisite sight and sound.
But change came to the Puerto Rican rainforest, including mass deforestation due to agricultural production, causing detrimental impacts to the habitats for the birds. The wild population of Puerto Rican parrots dwindled to a low point of 13 in 1973 and, after efforts to restore the species population, it increased greatly but was impacted by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, dividing the population count in half to 22. Listed as critically endangered in 1994, the parrots were moved to a lower part on the mountain known as Rio Abajo. Becky says that they really seem to be thriving here because it is less humid and much dryer. Two conservation release sites are on the island, while a third is being constructed. Fast forward through time with me to the 21st century. Extensive conservation efforts helped to bring the species back from the brink of extinction to a highly threatened population count of approximately 60 wild birds as of 2016.
Now, it’s 2017. Climate change, causing intense and fast occurring storms, lead to the devastation of hurricanes Irma and Maria that came to the island in the same month, destroying everything in their path, including the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Along with human losses, climate change intensified storms have extinguished the lives of countless animals. Currently, conservationists are aware of only four living Puerto Rican Parrots in El Yunque National Forest. Others with tracking devices attached suggest that they will not return, as they have most likely perished due to the storm’s powerful impact. Becky tells me that the wild population that was present in El Yunque is gone. While more birds survived in the wild Rio Abajo flock, they can hopefully repopulate within captive facilities, but allowing them to be released into the wild is a questionable act. The birds would not know how to fully survive and thrive with no habitat, no experience in the wild and with the threat of predators at every turn. They went through a genetic bottleneck, Becky says. They do not have enough genetic diversity to ensure their survival and if they were to be released, it would be a matter of inexact science.
The conservation group wants to access the nesting sites, but Becky reports that they are blocked off, preventing them from doing a true population census. While there is hope for the 240 birds in the aviaries that survived the storm, for captive breeding programs, reconstruction of artificial nest cavities, and for an eventual return to constant monitoring in the wild, the Puerto Rican Department of Natural Environmental Resources along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are focused on protecting the four wild birds that have so far returned to the island. While the Rio Abajo population has been re-sighted 35 of the 40 original flock count, catastrophic events continue to push this species to the brink of extinction. If the threatening climatic and anthropogenic trends continue, we could be bearing witness to the end of the Puerto Rican Parrots.