City Parrots

The IUCN lists the Grey-cheeked Parakeet (Brotogeris pyrrhoptera) as endangered. According to birdlife international their decline was principally caused by the wild bird trade. With 59,320 birds reportedly imported by CITES countries between 1983-1988. In 1995, the wild population was estimated at 15,000 birds, principally in Ecuador. This represents a very crude decline of c.70% in 10 years, although it is still locally common in suitable habitat remnants.

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Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has sidestepped pleas to halt plans to log southern Tasmania’s forests which would threaten the survival of one of Australia’s rarest parrots.

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High country farmers are being urged not to break the law to stop a protected bird preying on their livestock.

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A Wimmera shire is hoping to be able to give farmers the chance to remove buloke trees from their properties, without denying an endangered bird its habitat.

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Although I have never seen much fact in the many accusations that have been made towards introduced city parrots, as a conservation biologist I do prefer threatened parrots to populate cities in their native ranges, where they are most appropriate. Today, trough our flickr pool, we discovered just such a threatened parrot: Sun Conures (Aratinga solstitialis) are colonizing the city of Boa vista in the state of Roraima, Brazil which is located in the conures natural range. 

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Like the more recently arrived coqui frogs, the wild parrots of Kailua-Kona are usually heard before they are seen. Their piercing shrieks help keep the flocks together as they forage for food from the shoreline up to the slopes of Hualalai. Most people watch with pleasure as their brilliant feathers flash in the sunlight. Others, however, are concerned that the wild parrots may destroy seed and fruit crops, as well as crowd out native seabirds from their natural habitats.

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Katunga irrigated crop farmer Colin Rendell has devoted nearly 10 per cent of his 129 ha farm to superb parrot habitat since 2003.

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A PARROT was left speechless when a traffic warden gave him a parking ticket on a busy Liverpool street.

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