Species at Risk

Flying Emeralds
by Sonia Gabriela Ortiz Maciel, Instituto de Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, and Miguel Ángel Cruz Nieto, Pronatura-Noreste

To those who live within the temperate, high-elevation, mixed-pine forests of Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental ecoregion, the brilliant green sight and raucous sound of thick-billed parrots are not the common occurrences they once were. Further north, this species disappeared from its historic northernmost range in the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico by the early 1900s. In Mexico, the birds’ breeding range is now limited to the states of Chihuahua and Durango, with seasonal migration to the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán.

This species inhabits an ecoregion that has long been the target of logging activities—less than 0.06 percent of its original forest cover remains. Such extensive habitat loss poses the greatest threat to these forest-dependent birds, which nest in tree cavities and feed primarily on pinecone seeds. Like so many other attractive, gregarious, wild birds, the thick-billed parrot is additionally threatened by the pet-bird trade. An estimated 3,000 to 6,000 individuals of this internationally and federally endangered bird still exist in the wild.

Anecdotal accounts by rural residents of ejidos, or communally owned lands, indicate a continued general decline in this species’ flock sizes and in the frequency of sightings throughout its range, including the disappearance of some local populations. However, little scientific information was known about Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha until 1994, when the Instituto de Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) and partners piloted field studies on the species. Our studies continue to date, with a permanent research team located in the ecoregion. Given the looming issue of habitat loss, our applied-research project’s goal is to develop sustainable forest-management practices in northern Mexico, incorporating the needs of this charismatic indicator species.

Our research involves identifying nesting areas, determining the most important sites, and exploring potential new ones. In order to assess the species’ status and population tendencies, we regularly monitor tree cavities for nests. Once eggs are laid, we collect data on nestling success, diet, and health until the chicks fledge. We now have 9 years of comparative reproductive data, 1995 to 2003, on the 247 nests that were accessible among the 339 identified. Our data from the 689 eggs monitored indicate that nest success and productivity rates have been high. However, we have not been able to determine what proportion of the birds’ population is breeding in any given year, nor what its mortality rates are.

We do know that the most important nesting area for thick-billed parrots is in the Bisaloachic-Cebadillas region of northern Chihuahua, where we estimate there are 140 nests, representing 10 percent of the total known breeding population. This 4,000-acre area belongs to the Tutuaca Ejido and was a timber-rich site prime for logging. We and our partners took information on the thick-billed parrot to the community and gained their support for conserving its habitat by offering a long-term, incentive-based, economic alternative to the ephemeral profits of logging.

In 2002, the ejido willingly signed an official land conservation agreement that places a 15-year timber-cutting moratorium on their land. Over the 15 years, nongovernmental organizations Pronatura-Noreste, The Wildlands Project, and Naturalia will be reimbursing the ejido 50 percent of the value of the uncut timber—one of the agreement’s incentives. These and many other partners will assist the community in recouping the remaining 50 percent via alternative income sources. Such options include payment for their intact forest’s ecological services, like carbon sequestration; ecotourism instruction and infrastructure; organic orchard development; and sustainable agriculture, aquaculture, and forestry programs.

Partnership efforts have since expanded to Chihuahua’s Madera region, the only known site were thick-billed parrots nest in aspen trees, and to Conoachi Ejido next to Tutuaca. Thick-billed parrots are just one of the forest’s many jewels our partnership hopes to protect by closing the loop between research and management in these regions.

For more information, contact Sonia Gabriela Ortiz Maciel, Flagship Species Program Coordinator, ITESM-Centro de Calidad Ambiental, Programa de Manejo Sostenible de Ecosistemas, CEDES piso 5, Avenida E. Garza Sada 2501 sur, Monterrey, Nuevo León, C.P. 64849, México, (52) (818) 358-2000, sgom@itesm.mx, or Miguel Angel Cruz Nieto, Director de Conservación, Pronatura-Noreste, Loma Larga 235, esquina Loma Florida, Colonia Loma Larga, Monterrey, Nuevo León, C.P. 64710, México, (52) (818) 345-1045.

Thick-billed Parrot Conservation Partners

Instituto de Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey
Pronatura-Noreste
The Wildlands Project
Naturalia
Tutuaca Ejido
Conoachi Ejido
Wildlife Trust
Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, A.C.
World Parrot Trust
Sierra Madre Alliance
Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
American Zoo and Aquarium Association
Comisión Nacional de Areas Naturales Protejidas

Cruising for Curlews
by Suzanne Fellows and Sue Thomas, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Some people like a long list of titles following their names—it tends to impress people. . .in a good way. But, if you’re a bird, it can portend your doom. For example: long-billed curlew, Highly Imperiled, U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan and Canadian Shorebird Conservation Plan designation; Bird of Conservation Concern, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) designation; Species of Special Concern, Canadian Wildlife Service designation; and Audubon Watch List Species, Audubon Society designation. Going state by state, province by province throughout this bird’s range, many have listed it as a species of conservation concern.

To assure the long-billed curlew does not become an historical footnote, we need to know more about it to effectively manage its populations. Beginning in spring 2004, state, provincial, and federal biologists led by the Service and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will initiate a 2-year survey across the bird’s known breeding range. The primary goal of this massive undertaking is to provide a more accurate estimate of the number of breeding long-billed curlews.

The temperate breeding component of the U.S. and Canadian Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring (PRISM) takes a species-by-species approach to setting monitoring objectives for shorebirds breeding in North America’s temperate zone. Following discussions of logistics, statistics, and curlew biology, the PRISM group determined that a breeding survey would provide a better population estimate. Long-billed curlews have a geographically wide but patchy breeding distribution. They initiate nesting early and can be relatively secretive during incubation. Most young are off the nest and away from the breeding area by mid-June. These and other factors make the North American Breeding Bird Survey, which is conducted along roadsides in the United States and southern Canada in June, inadequate to monitor long-billed curlew populations.

The North American breeding range of the long-billed curlew extends across 16 western U.S. states and 3 Canadian provinces. The new roadside survey will cover stratified random routes that sample nesting habitat within shrubland and grassland communities. Surveys will be timed to coincide with the local pre-incubation period (March through May), when breeding birds are most likely to be detected. Within each time zone, crews will survey along 32-kilometer routes following a double-observer protocol. Numbers of observations as well as behavior and habitat variables will be recorded. Statistical analysis will be conducted by USGS biologists. Upon completion of the 2-year study, guidelines will be developed to set a long-term monitoring plan for the curlew. It may be long overdue, but it’s not too late.

For more information, contact Suzanne Fellows, Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nongame Migratory Bird Division, P.O. Box 25486, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225, (303) 236-4417, suzanne_fellows@fws.gov,
mountain-prairie.fws.gov/species/birds/longbilled_curlew/.

Long-billed Curlew: Up Close and Personal

Population estimate: no accurate estimate
Breeding range: short-grass, mixed-grass, and shrubland habitats of the Great Plains, Great Basin, and intermontane valleys of western United States and southwestern Canada
Wintering range: coastal and inland habitats in California and Texas, coastal Louisiana, coastal and inland areas of northern Mexico, and small numbers to the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica
Body length: 19.5 to 23.5 inches, largest North American shorebird
Wingspan: 35 to 38 inches
Bill length: 4.5 to 8.5 inches, longest bill of all North American shorebirds
Sexes: plumage similar, female averages larger size and longer bill than male
Reproduction: commonly four eggs, incubation 27 to 29 days, both parents incubate eggs
Young: fledge at 10 days after hatch
Feeding: primarily invertebrates, some small vertebrates
Major threats: habitat loss

Adapted from The Birds of North America, No. 628, 2002, Bruce and Katie Dugger and The Sibley Guide to Birds, David Allen Sibley, 2000.