Experts celebrate as rare parrot makes miraculous comeback from brink of extinction: 'They're already ready to fly'
As Mongabay reported, illegal wildlife trafficking and habitat loss had a devastating impact on the species, driving their numbers down to just 5,000 individuals by the turn of the century.
However, a project to install hundreds of artificial nests on Rasa Island in Brazil has allowed their population to nearly double in 20 years, which led to its conservation status being upgraded from "endangered" to "near threatened" in 2017.
Around 1,500 red-tailed amazons live on the island, but they have few nesting places left since locals use their preferred trees — the guanandis — to build shelters and fishing vessels. Mongabay explained that old trees have the best hollows for the birds to build nests, but since coastal communities claimed many of them, the parrots have moved to younger trees deeper in the forest. Because these trees lack natural hollows, conservationists from the Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education (SPVS), a nongovernmental organization, created artificial nests made of wooden boxes where the birds can roost.
The project was a huge success, as all 15 nests installed in 2003 had occupants. With the help of the Loro Parque Foundation — another environmental organization based in Spain — red-tailed amazons on Rasa Island and several smaller islands were gifted 111 artificial nests.
Because of the group's dedication, more parrots now live on Rasa Island than humans, suggesting a flourishing population. However, their conservation work is far from over, as researchers found the population of red-tailed amazons dropped from 2,500 to just over 450 individuals on the nearby Pinheiro Island in 2024.
They believe tourism prompted some to relocate, while others have likely become victims of the illegal wildlife trade. Cameras have been set up throughout the islands to monitor nests, but this doesn't always stop traffickers.
SPVS has started talking to locals about the importance of protecting the rare parrots and their habitats, and it has also put trackers on the birds to identify them if they are captured.
While the tags help conservationists keep a close eye on the birds, they can still move freely around their new and improved island home. "They're already ready to fly," Elenise Sipinski, a researcher at SPVS, told Mongabay, referring to two chicks that were tagged.
The group has taken a multifaceted approach to conservation, working on reforesting the mainland to ensure the parrots have a healthy habitat. In partnership with other NGOs and companies, the organization established three nature reserves covering a total of 47,000 acres, which provided the parrots ample space to roam and expand their populations.
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Red-tailed amazons play a crucial role in dispersing seeds, which helps create and maintain biodiversity — this maintains the health of ecosystems humans depend on. By preserving their habitat, both humans and parrots win.
"When you work with a charismatic species like the red-tailed amazon, you end up working on conservation as a whole. The only reason there are parrots is because there is forest," Sipinski said.
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