| We hope you enjoy your visit. We are the BEST Conure Forum on the web! All Conures, all the time! So come & join our flock! You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access all the member forums. We also have forums on other birds and pets for our members that have more than just Conures. There are forums on Lost & Found, Rescues, Breeders and more. In the lobby you will be able view the live chat, jokes, polls and web cams. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Nov 20 2007, 02:21 PM (848 Views) | |
| BUUZBEE | Nov 20 2007, 02:21 PM Post #1 |
Administrator
|
The Thick-billed Parrot, Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha is a medium-sized, up to 38cm long, bright green parrot with a large black bill and a red forecrown, shoulder and thighs. Adult eyes are amber, while juveniles have brown eyes. The rest of the bird is bright green. Thick-billed Parrots show red shoulders and leading edge on the underwing, followed by a blackish green stripe, then a yellow stripe, followed by the remaining underwing showing dark green. It appears to show a blackish tail. The bird sounds like a high pitched macaw and make a variety of harsh, rolling calls. They are adept fliers. The Thick-billed Parrot lives in temperate conifer, pine, mature pine-oak and fir forests from 1200 to 3600 meters. For the most part, it is restricted to the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico, though it used to live in the southwestern United States. Birds had been reintroduced in Arizona in the early 1980s, but this effort turned out to be unsuccessful. The parrots could not adapt to avoiding natural predators. It likes to nest in tree cavities, especially old woodpecker holes. It principally feeds on seed from various pine species, so much so their entire lives revolve around cone production. Flocks of these parrots roost by cliffs and they breed at the peak of pine seed production. It is nomadic, following the variations of cone abundance. Habitat destruction and illegal bird trading gives the Thick-billed Parrot its Endangered status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and listing on Appendix I of CITES. It is estimated that only 1000-4000 Thick-billed Parrot exist. However, this last living parrot species native to the United States is well-established in captive breeding programs in many zoos across the world. Arizona re-introduction The re-introduction into the mountains of southeastern Arizona-(the Madrean sky islands region of Arizona), though well planned was dramatically impacted by predation. Due to extensive human development, residency, agriculture, etc., high numbers of predator species exist, especially hawks, and especially the goshawk. The bird loss was especially high to these now well-emplaced predator species. A future attempt at introduction would have to include an ecosystem area that somehow limits the success of the numerous predator species. Species' conservation For more than 10 years, Pronatura Noreste (a northeastern Mexican environmental NGO) and Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education have been monitoring 700 nests of Thick-billed Parrots in Chihuahua. On the other hand, through conservation easements with the ejidos, the organization has created ancient forest sanctuaries for the protection of the bird's habitat. References BirdLife International (2004). Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 5 September 2006. Database entry includes a range map, a brief justification of why this species is endangered, and the criteria used Howell, Steven N. G. & Webb, Sophie (1995): A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York. ISBN 0-19-854012-4   Conservation status Endangered |
 |
 
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
|
|
| « Previous Topic · Thick-billed Parrot · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
 1:31 AM Jun 19
|
Hosted for free by ZetaBoards