SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Two endangered Puerto Rican parrots were born in the wild in a natural nest found outside a national forest in the U.S. territory for the first time in 144 years, officials said today.
Scientists discovered the nest in May near the Rio Abajo Nature Preserve in western Puerto Rico and monitored it with cameras until they saw the parrots take flight in late July, according to Natural Resources Secretary Carmen Guerrero.
“The historical importance of this makes your hairs stand up,” she said in a phone interview. “They’re one of the top ten most endangered birds in the world.”
The two parrots were born to birds that had been reintroduced into the wild by scientists in the Rio Abajo Nature Preserve, one of two breeding centres in the island located in western Puerto Rico.
Parrots had previously been born in natural nests in 1973 and 1993 in El Yunque, the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Forest system that also serves as a breeding centre in northeast Puerto Rico. Scientists also found eggs in a natural nest last year, but the birds didn’t hatch.
Guerrero said the highest number of parrots born in the wild in western Puerto Rico reached an all-time high this year at 16, with two of those being born in the natural nest and the remainder in artificial nests placed in the wild. In addition, there were 46 parrots born in captivity this year at the Rio Abajo Nature Preserve compared with 51 last year.
“These have been the highest two reproductive years in history,” she said.
The birds are Puerto Rico’s only remaining native parrot and one of roughly 30 species of Amazon parrots found in the Americas. They have red foreheads, turquoise feathers under their wings and grow to nearly a foot in length. They are known for their secrecy and usually mate for life, reproducing once a year.
