Study offers snapshot of rare Ecuador Amazon parrot
Researchers came back with “more questions than answers” about the Ecuador Amazon parrot
UK researchers that headed to South America to learn more about one of the world’s rarest parrots have returned with “more questions than answers”.
A team from Chester Zoo spent three weeks studying Ecuador Amazon parrots.
The parrot was only reclassified as a species in its own right in December, before which it was deemed to be a subspecies of a common group of birds.
Only 600 individuals are estimated to remain in the wild, prompting the new species to be listed as Endangered.
“The truth is that we came back with far more questions than answers,” explained expedition leader Mark Pilgrim, director general of Chester Zoo.
“Suddenly, there are a whole number of things that we didn’t expect and we now have questions about.”
One example was how the birds chose their roosting sites amid the mangroves of Cerro Blanco, located along the coast of western Ecuador.
“We knew from literature from our previous visit that the parrots roosted in the mangroves and flew to the dry forests to feed,” Dr Pilgrim told BBC News.
“The assumption was that they did that to protect themselves from predators that were not found on the mangrove islands, but they fly very far out into the mangroves.
“Shrimp farms use bird scaring devices, which are designed to frighten the herons and shore birds and stop them eating the farms’ stock.
“So is this affecting [the parrots’] behaviour? We don’t know.”
Lovesick parrots?
The study also raised questions about the birds’ breeding behaviour.
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