Thick-billed parrots -- long ago (1 Viewer)

[Rick Wright]

As the calendar page readies itself for the turning, we enter what was once prime time for the irregular incursions of thick-billed parrots into southeastern Arizona. One of the most impressive such events involved nearly a thousand birds in August 1904:

http://birdaz.com/blog/2014/07/30/thick-billed-dreams/

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Are there still any reintroduced ones in the Chiricahuas Rick?

 

[Rick Wright]

No, that project failed, in part at least thanks to the too eager ministrations of the local goshawks.

 

[Nutcracker]

Keep a check on pine cone crops. Best chance of an invasion would be a heavy crop in Arizona, combined with a crop failure in Durango / Chihuahua.

As pine cones take around 18 months from pollination to maturity, it should be possible to have a year's advance notice of possible invasions.

 

[Mysticete]

Even if their was a natural stray to the USA, it might be really hard to get the record accepted as genuine (and the species just seems to rare to really who up in mass, at least for now)

 

[Nutcracker]

to rare to really who up in mass,

Not sure what you're saying there, something amiss in the typing?? :h?:

 

[LabradorDuck]

Did Thick-billed Parrots ever breed in Arizona? If they were only ever irruptive, I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that the introduction failed, regardless of what caused the individual deaths.

 

[Mysticete]

Apparently yes, they were breeders in Arizona, although I think it's been something like a hundred years since they have done so regularly.

 

[Ian Lewis]

No, that project failed, in part at least thanks to the too eager ministrations of the local goshawks.

I seem to recall in the ABA's Birding mag that it was mainly captive bred/confiscated pet birds that were released and that they failed to feed on natural pines and kept returning to aviary for food and would perch up on the tops of trees and so became prime candidates for Goshawk predation.

Ian

 

[Mysticete]

Not sure what you're saying there, something amiss in the typing?? :h?:

a bit...sometimes I respond to Birdforum posts before I am fully awake...