Abstract
A n unexpected consequence of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1990 was the opportunity given to aviculturists in western Europe to replenish their depleted captive population of Cuban Amazons. The species was well represented in collections in eastern Europe, a legacy of frequent importations from Cuba, and availability of new stocks certainly boosted breeding prospects elsewhere in Europe. Likewise in the United States, the species was uncommon in captivity, with birds presumed to have been smuggled in at intervals from Cuba, but in May 1991 the Cuban Amazon Consortium was formed to co-ordinate management of a captive population set up with a group of birds seized by the Department of the Interior at Miami, Florida, in April 1988. Co-operative programs involving both institutional and private breeders are being initiated by the Consortium, and for information about this commendable effort I refer readers to the account given by Rachel Rogers in AFA Watchbird, 26 (5): 36-37, 1999.
Geographical Variation Approximately 13ins (32cm) in length, the Cuban Amazon is predominantly rich green, with black margins to the feathers producing a distinctly scalloped appearance. White extends from the forehead and forecrown to around the eyes, and the throat to cheeks and foreneck is rose-red, while the abdomen is dull mauve-red with greenish-black margins to the feathers. Outer webs of the flight feathers are deep blue, and red is present at bases of the lateral tail-feathers. The bill is horn colored, the iris is pale olive and the legs are pink-brown. The sexes are alike, and
young birds differ only in having less pronounced black edging to the body feathers and little mauve-red on the abdomen.
Geographical variation is manifested mainly in size differences and changes to the facial pattern. Most captive birds are A. l. leucocephala from eastern to central Cuba or the doubtfully distinct A. l. palmarum from western Cuba, including the Isle of Pines. The slightly larger A. l. caymanensis from Grand Cayman Island is paler, more yellowish-green with less pronounced black margins to the feathers, and green on sides of the neck extending forward to separate rose-red on the cheeks from that of the throat, while the mauve-red abdominal patch is much reduced. A significantly smaller size, a more yellowish-green general plumage and a more extensive purple-red abdominal patch differentiate A. l. hesterna from tiny Cayman Brae Island and possibly nearby Little Cayman Island, the latter presumably being visited only occasionally by birds that have crossed the intervening seven miles expanse of ocean. Formerly more widespread in the Bahamas, but now surviving only on Great Inagua and Abaco Islands, A. l. bahamensis is slightly larger than leucocephala, has little or no mauvered on the abdomen, and has white of the forecrown extending below the eyes to the upper cheeks.
Vulnerable on Islands
Of the 18 species or subspecies of parrots that have become extinct since 1600, no fewer than 16 occurred on islands, and this demonstrates forcefully the particular vulnerability of island populations to habitat
loss and hunting or trapping. It is this same combination of being confined to islands and dependence on forests for food or nesting that threatens the Cuban Amazon, especially on the smaller islands. Land clearance for agriculture and damage to forests by hurricanes have brought about serious declines in all parts of the range, but there are emerging hopeful signs of population levels now becoming stabilized or even increasing slightly.
Because of extensive land clearance and intense hunting for food or trapping for the live-bird market, the parrots were extirpated from many regions in Cuba and on the Isle of Pines, but increased protection has arrested the decline, and numbers may be increasing in the few remaining tracts of woodland. Indeed, in some districts, notably on Guanahacabibes Peninsula, westernmost Cuba, it is quite common and locally is more numerous than the Cuban Conure Aratinga euops.
Likewise in the Bahamas, where formerly it occurred on all major islands, the species now survives only on Great Inagua and Abaco Islands, but again appears to be responding well to increased protection and habitat preservation. On Abaco, a national park has been established to safeguard the preferred habitat of mixed broad-leaf and Pinus woodland, and similarly on Great Inagua extensive tracts of woodland have been protected within a national park. On Grand Cayman, these parrots occur mostly in central and eastern regions, where they frequent mangroves and limestone forest or woodland, but seasonally coming to forage in coastal districts or to visit plantations and gardens when cultivated fruits are available. Of most concern is the status of A. !. hesterna, which is dependent on old-growth dry evergreen woodland covering much of the elevated plateau on Cayman Brae, and this diverse habitat is threatened by development accompanying road construction.