The thick-billed parrot (''Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha'') is a medium-sized
parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to Mexico that formerly ranged into the
southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
. Its position in parrot
phylogeny
A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...
is the subject of ongoing discussion; it is sometimes referred to as thick-billed
macaw
Macaws are a group of New World parrots that are long-tailed and often colorful. They are popular in aviculture or as companion parrots, although there are conservation concerns about several species in the wild.
Biology
Of the many differe ...
or thick-billed
conure
Conures are a diverse, loosely defined group of small to medium-sized parrots. They belong to several genera within a long-tailed group of the New World parrot subfamily Arinae. The term "conure" is used primarily in bird keeping, though it has ...
. In Mexico, it is locally called ''guacamaya'' ("macaw") or ''cotorra serrana'' ("mountain parrot"). Classified internationally as Endangered through
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
,
the thick-billed parrot's decline has been central to multiple controversies over wildlife management. In 2018, the estimated wild population in Mexico was 1,700.
Taxonomy
''Pachyrhyncha'' is currently classified as a species of the genus ''
Rhynchopsitta
The thick-billed parrots are stocky brilliant green Neotropical parrots with heavy black beaks of genus ''Rhynchopsitta'' of thick billed macaw-like parrots. The genus comprises two extant species, the thick-billed parrot and the maroon-fron ...
'' of macaw-like thick-billed parrots of which there are two extant species (the other being the
maroon-fronted parrot
The maroon-fronted parrot (''Rhynchopsitta terrisi'') is a large, macaw-like parrot. It is dark green with a dark red shoulder and a maroon forehead and eye-stripe. Its underside of the wings and tail appear to be black when it is in flight. It m ...
), and one extinct species. However, recent molecular DNA studies indicate that ''pachyrhyncha'' and its sister species ''terrisi'' in genus ''Rhynchopsitta'' are conspecific subspecies. ''Rhynchopsitta'' is one of numerous genera of New World long-tailed parrots in tribe
Arini, which also includes the Central and South American macaws. Tribe Arini together with the
amazonian parrots and a few miscellaneous genera make up subfamily
Arinae
The neotropical parrots or New World parrots comprise about 150 species in 32 genera found throughout South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean islands and (formerly) the southern United States. Among them are some of the most familiar an ...
of Neotropical parrots in the family
Psittacidae
The family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the roughly 10 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Old World or Afrotropical parrots) and 157 of subfamily Arinae (the New World or Neotropic ...
of the
true parrot
The true parrots are about 350 species of hook-billed, mostly herbivorous birds forming the superfamily Psittacoidea, one of the three superfamilies in the biological order Psittaciformes (parrots). True parrots are widespread, with species in ...
s.
The bird was first described by English naturalist and illustrator
William John Swainson
William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist.
Life
Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of ...
who designated it ''Macrocercus pachyrhynchus'' in ''
Philosophical Magazine
The ''Philosophical Magazine'' is one of the oldest scientific journals published in English. It was established by Alexander Tilloch in 1798;John Burnett"Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Univer ...
'', new ser., 1, no. 6, p. 439 (1827). Swainson evidently thought that because of its size and heavy beak, that it was a macaw (at that time, any parrot of the genus ''Sittace'', or ''Macrocercus''). It was later placed in its own genus ''Rhynchopsitta'' by French naturalist Prince
Charles Bonaparte in 1854. The name is derived from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
''rhynchos'' ("beak") and ''psittakos'' ("parrot") and ''pachy-'' ("thick") and ''rhynchos'' ("beak"), hence a "thick-beaked parrot".
Morphologically, Brazilian ornithologist
Helmut Sick
Helmut Sick (10 January 1910 – 5 March 1991) was a German-Brazilian ornithologist.
Sick was born in Leipzig, Germany. He emigrated to Brazil in 1939.
A prominent ornithologist in Brazil, Sick published more than 200 papers, including his most ...
calls this bird "a highly modified macaw". In a recent molecular study, genus ''Rhynchopsitta'' was placed in a large clade including all of tribe Arini and a few other genera; its closest relatives were similar in size to the parakeets in ''
Enicognathus
''Enicognathus'' is a genus of South American parrots in the family Psittacidae
The family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the roughly 10 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Old Wo ...
'', ''
Pyrrhura
''Pyrrhura'' (Greek
Red/Fire Tail) is a genus of parrots in the Arini tribe. They occur in tropical and subtropical South America and southern Central America (Panama and Costa Rica). Most are restricted to humid forest and adjacent habitats, ...
'', ''
Pionites
Caique ( or ) refers to a group of four species of parrots in the genus ''Pionites'' endemic to the Amazon Basin in South America. Name
The term "caique" is primarily used in aviculture, with ornithologists typically referring to them as the ...
'', and ''
Deroptyus
The red-fan parrot (''Deroptyus accipitrinus''), also known as the hawk-headed parrot, is a New World parrot hailing from the Amazon Rainforest. It is the only member of the genus ''Deroptyus''.
It dwells in Brazil, Suriname, Bolivia, Ecuado ...
'' genera of the clade. In a separate molecular analysis in the same study, ''Rhynchopsitta'' was placed in a clade in which it was sister to ''Pyrrhura'' but not other genera.
"Thick-billed parrot" has been designated the official
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
by the
International Ornithologists' Union
The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...
(IOC).
Description
The thick-billed parrot is a medium-sized, bright green
parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...
with a large black bill and red forecrown, shoulder and thighs. Adult eyes are amber, while juveniles have brown eyes. The rest of the bird is bright green. Thick-billed parrots show red shoulders and leading edge on the underwing, followed by a blackish green stripe, then a yellow stripe, followed by the remaining underwing showing dark green. The tail is black.
It is 38 cm (15 in) long and weighs 315-370 g. Thick-billed parrots have lived up to 33 years in captivity. It is similar in appearance to the
military macaw
The military macaw (''Ara militaris'') is a large parrot and a medium-sized macaw that gets its name from its predominantly green plumage resembling a military parade uniform. It is native to forests of Mexico and South America and though conside ...
''Ara militaris'', which is larger with a proportionally longer tail and blue flight feathers and rump, and the
lilac-crowned amazon
The lilac-crowned amazon (''Amazona finschi'') is a parrot endemic to the Pacific slopes of Mexico. Also known as Finsch's amazon, it is characterised by green plumage, a maroon forehead, and a violet-blue crown and neck.
The binomial of this bi ...
''Amazona finschi''
[ (note that these are not the phylogenetically closest relatives - see ]Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
).
The voice of the thick-billed parrot resembles a high-pitched macaw and includes a variety of harsh, rolling calls described as similar to human laughter. Although readily becoming hand-tame, the species is nervous and difficult to breed in captivity, with very low reproduction rates. Captive birds are fair voice mimics and can learn a few phrases and words. However, their piercing calls and comparatively duller coloration has prevented them from becoming popular pet trade birds, and currently there is little demand for them as illegally wild-caught or captive bred birds.
Like other parrots, they manipulate their food by holding it with one foot. Highly social, they may feed each other food stored in their crop (a pouch in the throat), and spend their free time preening each other. Groups of over 1,000 birds in one place are known from historical records.
Distribution and habitat
The thick-billed parrot lives in temperate conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
, pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
, mature pine-oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
and fir forests at elevation of 1200–3600 meters. It is largely restricted to the Sierra Madre Occidental
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...
in Chihuahua and Durango, Mexico.
Its former range included the United States including Arizona and New Mexico. Early accounts also place them in far west Texas (Audubon, El Paso, 1827), and possibly as far north as Utah. Accounts in both Arizona and New Mexico indicate birds visiting regularly, as well as over-wintering in Arizona. However, these accounts co-occurred with heavy shooting, logging, and development that extirpated the thick-billed parrot from its US range. The disruption of Native American ways of life greatly decreased the range of some bird species (e.g., the boreal owl
The boreal owl or Tengmalm's owl (''Aegolius funereus'') is a small owl in the "true owl" family Strigidae. It is known as the boreal owl in North America and as Tengmalm's owl in Europe after Swedish naturalist Peter Gustaf Tengmalm or, more ...
) that utilized Native American irrigation and farm land, and it is possible that the thick-billed parrot also suffered from this effect of European colonization. Following the extinction of the Carolina parakeet
The Carolina parakeet (''Conuropsis carolinensis''), or Carolina conure, is an extinct species of small green neotropical parrot with a bright yellow head, reddish orange face and pale beak that was native to the eastern, Midwest and plains sta ...
(''Conuropsis carolinensis'') and the extirpation of this species, the green parakeet
The green parakeet (''Psittacara holochlorus'') is a medium-sized parrot occurring in North and Central America, from the southernmost tip of Texas south to northern Nicaragua.
Description
The green parakeet is 32 cm in length, and is mos ...
(''Psittacara holochlorus'') is currently the only extant native parrot species in the Continental United States.
The last reliable reports of the birds in the southwestern United States were in 1935 and 1938 in the Chiricahua Mountains
The Chiricahua Mountains massif is a large mountain range in southeastern Arizona which is part of the Basin and Range province of the west and southwestern United States and northwest Mexico; the range is part of the Coronado National Forest. T ...
of Arizona.
Behavior and diet
The thick-billed parrot, like most parrots, nests in tree cavities, especially old woodpecker
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...
holes. In the past it is believed to have relied extensively on abandoned nesting holes made by the now-extinct imperial woodpecker
The imperial woodpecker (''Campephilus imperialis'') is a woodpecker species endemic to Mexico. If it is not extinct, it is the world's largest woodpecker species, at long. Researchers have discovered that the imperial woodpecker has slow climb ...
, the world's largest woodpecker. The imperial woodpecker was found in Mexico; its decline and eventual extinction may have been a factor in the reduction of the parrot's range. In parts of its existing range, dead or living quaking aspens are the dominant tree selected for nesting. It mainly feeds on seeds from various pine species. Mexican white pine
''Pinus ayacahuite'', also called ayacahuite pine and Mexican white pine, (family Pinaceae) is a species of pine native to the mountains of southern Mexico and western Central America, in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains and the eastern end of ...
appears to be a preferred species but the seeds of Douglas fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
, Apache pine
''Pinus engelmannii'', commonly known as the Apache pine, is a tree of Northern Mexico, in the Sierra Madre Occidental with its range extending a short distance into the United States in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. This pine ...
, Chihuahua pine
''Pinus leiophylla'', commonly known as Chihuahua pine, smooth-leaf pine,''Pinus leiophylla'' was originally described and published in ''Linnaea'' 6:354. 1831. and yellow pine (in Mexico, tlacocote and ocote chino), is a tree with a range prima ...
, and yellow pine
In ecology and forestry, yellow pine refers to a number of conifer species that tend to grow in similar plant communities and yield similar strong wood. In the Western United States, yellow pine refers to Jeffrey pine or ponderosa pine. In the S ...
are also taken. The species is strongly dependent on the supply of conifer cone
A conifer cone (in formal botany, botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in con ...
s, breeding at the peak of pine seed production. The species is nomadic, following the variations of cone abundance. To a much lesser extent, they also feed upon acorn
The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally
two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...
s and pine buds.[ They are adept fliers, and historical accounts describe the birds sleeping in one mountain range, and crossing vast distances to feed in another mountain range each day. They deal with deep snow by hanging upside-down and climbing on the bare underside of a snow-covered branch in order to access cones.
]
Conservation and threats
Principal threats to the thick-billed parrot are illegal pet trade, habitat loss principally due to logging, climate change (hotter temperatures that raise the snow line and increasing fire threats), and predators especially hawks and owls. The species is listed as endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...
and is on Appendix I of CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
meaning that commercial international trade is prohibited. It is also listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...
. NatureServe
NatureServe, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Arlington County, Virginia, US, that provides proprietary wildlife conservation-related data, tools, and services to private and government clients, partner organizations, and the public. Nat ...
considers the species to be "Critically Imperiled".
A 2004 BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
survey suggests that there may be 2,000–2,800 mature individuals and only 100 active nests in the entire population, but notes that this may be an overestimate; the distribution of this species is only . In June 2013, the population was estimated as 2097 with the proviso that the number may be an underestimate. However, it is only somewhat established in captive breeding programs in zoos
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...
in the United States and Europe, so an ''ex situ'' captive conservation project is less feasible than in popularly bred parrots, such as the scarlet macaw.
For more than 10 years, Pronatura Noreste
Pronatura Noreste is a Mexican nongovernmental, nonprofit organization recognized by the National Council of Science and Technology as a scientific and educational organization. Pronatura Noreste is one of six regional offices of the Pronatura MÃ ...
(a northeastern Mexican environmental NGO) and the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) ( en, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education), also known as Tecnológico de Monterrey or just Tec, is a secular and coeducational private university based in ...
have been monitoring 700 nests of thick-billed parrots in Chihuahua. Through conservation easements with the ejido
An ''ejido'' (, from Latin ''exitum'') is an area of communal land used for agriculture in which community members have usufruct rights rather than ownership rights to land, which in Mexico is held by the Mexican state. People awarded ejidos in ...
s, the organization has created sanctuaries for the protection of the bird's habitat.
Arizona re-introduction
Birds were reintroduced in Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, AlÄ á¹£onak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
in the 1980s, but this effort turned out to be unsuccessful. The re-introduction into the mountains of southeastern Arizona (the Madrean sky islands
The Madrean Sky Islands are enclaves of Madrean pine–oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in a complex of small mountain ranges in southern and southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. The sky islands are sur ...
region) was dramatically affected by predation
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...
. Due to extensive human development, residency, agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
, etc., high numbers of predator species exist, especially the goshawk
Goshawk may refer to several species of birds of prey, mainly in the genus ''Accipiter'':
* Northern goshawk, ''Accipiter gentilis'', often referred to simply as the goshawk, since it is the only goshawk found in much of its range (in Europe and N ...
. The bird loss was especially high to these now well-emplaced predator species. The effort was abandoned in 1993, and the last of the introduced parrots was seen in 1995. The major components of the effort, such as keeping birds in a roughly 2-meter cube cage before release, and artificially implanting feathers onto birds who did not fly on their own, likely affected the bird's ability to survive. The AZA
Aza or AZA may refer to:
Places
*Aza, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality
*Azadkənd, Nakhchivan or Lower Aza, Azerbaijan
*Aza, medieval name of Haza, Province of Burgos, Spain
*Aźa, a Tibetan name for the Tuyuhun kingdom
*Aza, a Hebrew roman ...
thick-billed parrot breeding studbook offers a critical review of the project's failures. More modern approaches in captive release do not use adult animals that live in cages for long periods before release, as was the case in the 1980s re-introduction project.
In October 2020, it was announced that, working with Mexican officials, researchers in Arizona plan to reintroduce the thick-billed parrot to the state. A representative with the Arizona Game and Fish department stated that the birds' preferred habitat is "high elevation forests like the Chiricahuas."
Relationship with Native Americans
Bones of thick-billed parrots used in religious burials, as well as painted sacred and decorative imagery, have been found in prehistoric Native American towns in the American Southwest. These sites are a large distance north of the current thick-billed parrot Mexican range. Sites include Wupatki Pueblo near Flagstaff, Arizona, and Chaco Canyon
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in the American Southwest hosting a concentration of pueblos. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Farmington, in a remote ca ...
in northwestern New Mexico. A thick-billed parrot feather utilized in a medicine man
A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...
fetish has been found in Colorado,[ showing either trade in feathers or very northern excursions of this species. Considering there is no evidence of live trade of these birds, but ritual burials of parrots in the Southwest utilized live birds, the presence of thick-billed parrot burials at Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico makes the possibility of northern populations or northern excursions by thick-billed parrots plausible.
The most well known of the thick-billed parrot images is from the Pottery Mound site in Southwestern New Mexico. This site has images of the three species most commonly found in religious use in the American Southwest, the scarlet macaw, military macaw, and thick-billed parrot.][ The lack of a bare facial patch, as is seen in macaw images at the site, is widely considered diagnostic for the identity of the painted bird.]
References
External links
ITESM Site
Fact file
- ARKive
for Mexico and the United States
Videos, photos and sounds
- Internet Bird Collection
{{Taxonbar, from=Q555163
Rhynchopsitta
Endemic birds of Mexico
Birds of the Sierra Madre Occidental
Birds of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt
Birds described in 1827
Taxa named by William John Swainson
ESA endangered species