Another successful year for the Thick-billed Parrot

Thick-billed Parrot © Christopher Wood, from the surfbirds galleries.American Bird Conservancy’s Mexican partner Pronatura Noreste is reporting another successful year for the Thick-billed Parrot nest box program.

The endangered Thick-billed Parrot breeds primarily at three sites in Mexico’s western Chihuahua state. Due to harvesting of timber and fires, the large trees that provide nest cavities for the birds have almost disappeared. Many of the remaining tree cavities are damaged with cracks and openings, and others have built up large numbers of parasites from repeated use year after year. Weather conditions and nestling parasitism have seriously reduced fledging success from these remaining natural cavities.

In 2008 and 2009, ABC helped fund Pronatura and the Instituto Técnico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey to erect nest boxes at two of the sites, Madera and Mesa de las Guacamayas, to replace these lost and unusable nest sites. First year success was minimal, with only three boxes occupied, but experience with nest box programs for other species in Colombia indicated that parrots need time to become accustomed to the boxes and to begin using them. This indeed seems to be the case here too, as in 2009, eight boxes were used by the birds, with 20 eggs laid and 18 young fledged.

“The birds are clearly beginning to use the nest boxes we have provided, and we expect the number of boxes used in 2010 to increase further,” said David Wiedenfeld, ABC’s Assistant Director of International Programs. “The greater availability of nest sites and increased fledging success at those sites should greatly aid in increasing the populations of this endangered parrot.