When Hurricane Maria tear across Puerto Rico as a powerful Category 4 last month , itdevastated the El Yunque National Forest , toppling trees and stripping canopies of their leaves . But while the rainforest itself is expected to make a full recuperation , the future of its far-famed Puerto Rican parrots ( Amazona vittata ) , which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature inclination ascritically endangered , is far less certain .
“ The position of the Puerto Rican Parrots in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria is only partially known at this clip , ” Michelle Eversen , the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Services Program Supervisor for the Caribbean , save last week in an email shared with Earther . While Eversen enjoin most of Puerto Rico ’s captive - reared parrots managed to pull through , the wellness of the island ’s midget wild bird universe is a question mark .
A vivacious green and blue bird endemic to Puerto Rico and surrounding islands , the Puerto Rican parrot is thought to have number in the hundreds of yard before Spaniards arrived in the Caribbean . It was found in a diverse range of habitats , from lowland forests and mangrove swamps to the higher reaches of the Luquillo Mountains , where it would nest late in the cavities of Paolo Colorado tree . But by 1975 , the mintage had been decimated by home ground release , fragmentation , hunting , and the caged - bird pet patronage , with only thirteen wild individual stay .
Thanks to intensive conservation efforts since then , the universe has made a small recuperation : accord to the IUCN , there were roughly 100 Puerto Rican parrot living in the wild in 2013 , and a few hundred more located at volary in El Yunque and in the Rio Abajo State Forest . of late , some parrots have also been housed at an acclimation / release deftness in the municipality of Maricao , on the western edge of the Cordillera Central .
The dependable news is that conservation biologists at the aviarieshad a wry run protecting their square wardswhen Hurricane Irma die the island in other September . Before Maria made landfall on September 20th wadding 155 miles per hour winds , aviary stave were able-bodied to move all of the parrots from outdoor flight of steps and fosterage facilities into hurricane - good rooms , where most of them devolve on out of the violent storm in safety .
“ Our hardy faculty leave their menage and family line and stayed [ at ] the aviary to care for the birdie , ” Eversen write , add up that it deal nearly a week to get at all three locations after the storm , because of downed Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
Nearly three weeks later , both volary go along to mesh under generator power while the grid remains down . “ more often than not speaking the parrot at both readiness are doing well , ” Eversen said . “ price assessments to the facility are on - expiration but the current inventory including Maricao suggest extensive motive for replacement of breeding cages , perimeter fences and security system and observation cameras . ”
The status of the wild Puerto Rican parrot universe is murkier , although Eversen says raving mad birds have been spotted near both avairies . Last week , preservation life scientist Tanya Martínez , who works at the Rio Abajo aviary , confirmed that a sizable population of wild parrot had exist the storm , posting a dramatic photo on Twitter that show up approximately two dozen parrot alight atop a defoliated canopy like giant immature bud .
We ’ve counted mathematical group of up to 80 wild#iguacain Rio Abajo . A promising commencement . lamentably , they stand out dramatically in the defoliated canopy.pic.twitter.com/qv1rDAGcBK
— Tanya Martínez ( @iguacachick)October 4 , 2017
In another photo , Martínez notice that the fowl are eating royal decoration yield , one of the few food resources that still exists after the violent storm .
Rio Abajo is heavily defoliated . Only the yield of the purple decoration has survived . The parrot are making salutary usance of this special resource.pic.twitter.com/9IjTFhROkl
But these glimmers of hope away , it ’s unclear how many parrots will live the sudden and dramatic loss of habitat and food . late research has cited hurricane as a key factor confine the recuperation of the metal money — when Hurricane Hugo struck the island as a powerful Category 3 storm in 1989 , the unwarranted parrot population was cut in one-half , from 47 individuals to just 23 , according to the IUCN . And with climate change expected to fuel more intense storms , it could be harder for the species to rebound in the future .
Sceintific inventorying of the the El Yunque woods were just getting set about last week , but ecologists are expecting forest harm comparable to or greater than what was seen after Hugo . “ It will be some meter before those [ wild ] populations can be accessed due to shoot down Tree , ” Eversen note .
If there ’s one affair the parrots have operate in their favour aright now , it ’s a dedicated crew of scientists and broad public reenforcement for conservation of the mintage , which are the last native U.S. parrot still found on U.S. soil . A crowdfunding pagelaunchedby the World Parrot Trust to touch on damage to the aviaries has raised more than $ 12,000 over the retiring week .
Earther has reached out to Martínez and the Rio Abajo aviary for comment , and we will update this spot if and when we get a line back .
conservation
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