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A little history of the parrots' more recent problems:
Puerto Rico was once an unspoiled tropical island with an abundance of wildlife, including its' endemic Parrot (amazona vitatta). Along with the population explosion and a tremendous growth of housing much of the habitat the parrots were surviving in had been lost. The parrots retreated to their last stronghold, the El Yunque Mountains.
The Federal Government decided to try out its' new chemical warfare weapon, 'Agent Orange' in these mountains in 1962 (and for the next few years) by spraying from the air, certain areas of the El Yunque Mountains.
The official count in 1962, prior to the defoliant spraying, of the parrots in this area was 200 or more healthy parrots.
By 1968, after the agent orange sprayings were over, the official count was down to 16 and those were infertile, sickly and barely surviving. Other factors could be 'said to be involved', but certainly none so obvious as 'agent orange' a chemical defoliant.( Not terribly different from the presently commonly and casually used 'Round Up'*)
* The makers of Round Up claim it to be harmless, when used correctly.
What a disaster! It was at this point that the Federal Government began thinking about a program to save the parrot. And due to federal funding of programs designed to specifically try to rebuild the population of the birds some considerable progress has been made.
The present population of Puerto Rican Parrots is about 102 birds of which about 40 are living in the wild. Through tremendous effort of many scientists devoted to the health, welfare and reproduction of this species there has been a release of 16 birds into the wild this last summer. Reports are they are not doing very well.
Out of the 10 released parrots from the recovery program, as of April 2001, only one radio transmitter signal is still flying around. Chances are the other 9 static signals are a result of red tail hawk predatory attacks.
The pearl -eyed thrasher does not push anybody out of their nest. They predate anyones eggs or chicks sometimes, plus eat fruit and seeds--they are omnivorous. They may steal and occupy a would be parrot's nest therefore the little mailbox looking nests are prepared for them near active parrot nests and elsewhere to entice them away from the Palo Colorado cavities.
