Amazon Parrots in Tamaulipas, Mexico: Back to the Ranch 20 Years Later

Abstract

The coastal plain of Tamaulipas, Mexico, is home to three species of Amazon parrots: red-crowned Amazon (Amazona viridigenalis), double yellow-headed Amazon (Amazona oratrix) and red-lored Amazon (Amazona autumnalis) (see Figure 3 in previous article in this issue). Like many Neotropical parrots, these populations have been under sonsiderable stress during the last decade of the 20th century and the first few decades of the 21st due to habitat loss and capture for the pet trade. Habitat loss eliminates the large trees needed for nesting and reduces food supplies, while capture for the pet trade directly eliminates birds from the environment through a mixture of capture of adults and chicks. Sometimes chick harvesting is done by cutting into the nest cavity to remove the young or felling the entire nest tree, which further impacts the population by removing good nesting sites. Many parrot species can tolerate moderate to even heavy habitat modification, while some small species recover quickly even from the harvest...
PDF