Abstract
Parrots as Problems
Parrots are colourful, vegetarian, playful and mimetic, so people find them attractive, easy to keep, companionable and entertaining. In popular consciousness, they are the most high-profile of birds, commonly featured in advertisements that seek to assert the tropical authenticity of a product, and often humourised in cartoon form to assure the conviviality of and complicity in the experience the product offers.
It is all the more curious, then, that scientifically parrots remain so little known. The truth is, however, that for all their colour and noise, parrots are highly cryptic (being mostly green) and capable of long periods of silence, feeding invisibly in the high crowns of trees, and when they fly it is often with such speed or over such distances as to prohibit further observation. These factors discourage rigorous study to obtain quantitative data; so we have many major gaps in our understanding of the ecology and biology of the family in general and almost all of its individual members.
The majority of the world's 330- odd parrot species are indeed found in tropical regions, and most of this majority are tropical forest dwellers, the lowlands being especially rich in species. Although dispersed widely through the Pacific Ocean and Old World in general, the parrots reach their maximum diversity in South America, Southeast Asia and Australia. ICBP's preliminary checklist of the threatened birds of the world, Birds to watch ( 1988), treated no fewer than 71 parrot species (21. 5 % of the family) as at risk of extinction, and listed a further 29 as nearthreatened (birds in this second category were either genuine borderline cases or species considered most vulnerable to future decline). Hence no fewer than 100 (30% of the family's total 330 species) were identified as giving cause for concern or worse.
Threatened species lists are always subject to change, and that in Birds to Watch was intended for regular update. Subsequent information has led to some adjustments, involving the deletion of Yellow-sided Parakeet Pyrrbura bypoxantba (an invalid species), the relegation of Yellowfaced Amazon Amazona xantbops to near-threatened status, the promotion from near-threatened status of Whiteh eaded Amazon Amazona leucocepbala, and the addition of El Oro Parakeet Pyrrhura orcesi, Fuertes' Hapalopsittaca fuertesi and Fireeyed Parrots H. pyrrbops, Bluecheeked Amazona dufresniana and Alder Amazons A. tucumana. Currently, therefore, ICBP considers 42 neotropical parrot species at risk.
All but one of these species are distributed within six general areas, as follows. Central America (Mexico) holds four (Thick-billed Parrot Rbyncbopsitta pacbyrbyncba, Maroon-fronted Parrot R. terrisi, Red-crowned Amazon Amazona viridigenalis and Socorro Conure Aratinga brevipes); the Caribbean holds seven (Cuban Conure Aratinga eu op s, White-headed Amazon Amazona leucocepbata, Puerto Rican Amazon A. uittata, St. Lucia Amazon A. versicolor, Red-necked Amazon A. arausiaca, St. Vincent Amazon A. guildingii, Imperial Amazon A. imperialis); the lowland forests of northern South America hold four (Golden Conure Guaruba guarouba, Pearly Parakeet Pyrrbura p ert ata, Blue-cheeked Amazon Amazona dufresniana, Yellowshouldered Amazon A. barbadensis); the Andes of northwestern South America hold 11 (Golden-plumed
Conure Leptosittaca branickii, Yellow-eared Conure Ognorhyncbus icterotis, El Oro Parakeet Pyrrhura orcesi, White-necked Parakeet P albipectus, Flame-winged Parakeet P. calltptera, Rufous-fronted Parakeet Bolborhyncbus ferrugineifrons, Grey-cheeked Parakeet Brotogeris pyrrbopterus, Spot-winged Parrotlet Touit stictoptera, Rusty-faced Parrot Ha p al o p s i t t a c a amazonina, Fuertes' Parrot H. fuertesi, Fire-eyed Parrot H. pyrrbops, on its own in the Andean foothills of Argentina is Alder Amazon Amazona tucumana); the interior savanna lowlands hold six (Hyacinth Macaw Anodorbyncbus hyacinthinus, Glaucous Macaw A. glaucus, Indigo Macaw A. leari, Little Blue Macaw Cyanopsitta spixii, Blue-throated Macaw Ara glaucogularis, Red-fronted Macaw A. rubrogenys); and the Atlantic forest region of Brazil (sometimes with adjacent areas of Paraguay and Argentina) holds nine (Golden-capped Conure Aratinga auricapilla, Blue-chested Parakeet Pyrrhura cruentata, Brownbacked Parrotlet Touit melanonota, Golden-tailed Parrotlet T. surda, Red-spectacled Amazon Amazona pretrei, Red-tailed Amazon A. brasili ens is, Red-browed Amazon A. rbodocorytba, Vinaceous Amazon A. vinacea, Purple-bellied Parrot Triclaria malacbitacea).
The areas in question are massive, and sympatric occurrence of species within them is commonly lacking. Nevertheless, it is obviously important to look for areas of overlap between threatened species in order to identify the optimal areas in which to seek to establish or reinforce reserves. Many of the species certainly occur in existing protected areas, but for most it is not known if the populations there possess genetic viability or if their requirements can be met throughout their life-cycle. Indeed, detailed information on the distribution and natural history of most species is very poor and in some cases almost completely lacking. This renders the task of determining priorities for particular areas very problematic and, although an essential measure, such priorities should always be framed so as to reflect their provisional nature.