The answer for many species is yes! Even people with little interest in Parrots must know that the loss of tropical and sub-tropical habitats, where Parrots occur, and illegal trapping, are the principal reasons for so many being threatened with extinction.In 2016 it was reported by scientists that 111 out of 398 (27.8%) Parrot species are potentially in danger of extinction. Parrots are known to be the most common bird group reported in the wildlife trade. Dr Stuart Butchart, Head of Science at BirdLife International, said: “This study confirms that Parrots face a higher rate of extinction than any other comparable bird group.

Indeed, 56 per cent of all Parrot species are in decline.” By 2020 the number of threatened Parrots was listed as 117 (29.6%) and the number of species as 394 (BirdLife International, 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Available at: https://www.iucnredlist.org/.)

Let’s look at these reasons more closely, plus another important one, global warming.

In the 21st century, mainly in the second decade, nearly one hundred Parrot field specialists studied the reasons why populations of species (not species per se) were threatened in the Neotropics (South and Central America).

They examined 192 populations of 92 species. Threats in order of impact on selected Parrot populations (Berkunsky et al, 2017) were as follows:

1. Capture for pet trade – local.

2. Agriculture.

3. Rural population pressure.

4. Nest destruction by poachers.

5. Agro-industry grazing.

6. Small-holder grazing.

7. Capture for pet trade – international.

8. Large-scale logging.

9. Droughts/desertification.

10. Agro-industry farming.

11. Selective large-scale logging.

12. Increase in fire frequency/intensity.

That was published in 2017. Now, eight years later, if today’s data were available, this list would look a little different. This is partly due to the recent dramatic impact of global warming and the awareness of its dangers.

This has made items numbers 9 and 12 even more significant. That list applied to the Neotropics but Parrot species in Australia, especially, have been badly impacted by drought and desertification.

Climate change

Countless species of animals and plants will be affected by climate change. In the journal Science Mark Urban described research that showed that if countries meet the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Centigrade, 1.8% of all species on earth will be endangered by the end of the century.

If the climate warms by 4 or 5 degrees, as many as 30% of all species could be at risk. Global warming means that a species tries to move to a cooler, higher altitude. But this is not always possible. The habitat might not contain suitable food resources – or it might not even exist!

The existence of the El Oro Conure (Pyrrhura orcesi) was unknown until as recently as 1988; it was the last new Parrot species to be discovered in the wild. With a distribution area of only 750 km² (only about 100km in length and, depending on the steepness of the Andes, a width of 5-10km) in a fragmented and deforested location, with only 4% of its original habitat surviving, its risk of exinction is high.

The deforestation rate in the south-west of Ecuador, where it occurs, has been the highest in South America. Climate change has caused a pronounced upslope shift in distribution. The Conure (IUCN Endangered) now occurs at 900-1,800m within the Buenaventura valley reserve where it was originally found at 600-1,100m in the 1980s.

A nest-box programme implemented by Fundacion Jocotoco has improved its breeding success rate. But will it eventually run out of habitat? Note that this Conure has never been in captivity.

Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo

The most endangered Parrots are threatened on two fronts: habitat loss and illegal trade. In Australia, the exquisite beauty of the Major Mitchell’s or Pink Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri) made it the prime target of smugglers of Australian avifauna. The prison sentences conferred on convicted smugglers and the increase in captive breeding reduced Cockatoo smuggling.

However, now eggs are targeted as they are more easily hidden. Despite the declining populations and habitat loss in the eastern and south-eastern parts of its range, its IUCN status is still Least Concern.

On May 31 2023, in Australia The Express newspaper published the following: ‘Concern has been expressed about the declining population and in a recent announcement by the Australian Environment Minister, the threatened status of the Pink Cockatoo is now considered endangered [by Australians], reflecting the severe decline in reporting over recent decades – a drop of some 70 per cent… The focus of concern is the eastern subspecies that occurs in small parts of inland Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales…’

Throughout Australia, hollow-nesting threatened species, including Cockatoos, are losing their nest sites when people illegally cut down trees for firewood, due to the rising costs of fuel for heating.

They also take or destroy dead trees, unaware that they are valuable nest sites. Few trees have hollows (created by fire or by disease) before they reach 80-100 years old. In today’s Australia there is no recruitment of trees due to grazing animals, introduced pests and inappropriate fire regimes.

‘What can be done?’, the writer of The Express article asked. He suggested that it was another example of recognising the demise of a species without doing anything about it. ‘A Recovery Plan needs to be developed and then funded.’ But few new Recovery Plans are being made in Australia.

Most of the Cockatoo’s habitat is outside protected areas, on private lands, usually used for sheep and cattle grazing. In Australia, habitat loss is currently the most serious threat to the survival of Parrots. Illegal trade does not occur on the large scale of that in South America, Asia and Africa.

Trade, legal and illegal

The export to Europe, through the trapping of wild Parrots, has had a massive negative effect on the populations of very many Parrot species. Prior to the suspension of imports of live birds to the European Union (EU) in 2005, the EU was a major importer of live wild birds. Some of the major groups imported were Parrots, birds of prey and owls.

The moratorium on EU imports was solely for animal health reasons to prevent the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, but it prompted discussion of trade volumes, sustainability and transport conditions by groups concerned with trade, conservation and animal welfare.

The majority of live wild birds imported (more than 99%) were Parrots during the period 1994-2003. The two Parrot species most imported to the EU were the Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) and the Senegal Parrot (Poicephalus senegalus).

Reported imports both exceeded 200,000 over the ten years (McLardy and Burnett, 2012). Yes, an average of 20,000 per year! A scandal! The result for the Grey Parrot was that it is now nearly extinct in some regions of Africa, such as Ghana, and is now classified as Endangered (IUCN). This is just one example of what uncontrolled trade, legal and illegal, did to one popular Parrot species.

Today, restrictions against the export and the importation of wild-caught birds apply in many countries, but illegal trade has become an enormous problem, increasing during this decade, the 2020s.

It is out of control, with even the best efforts made in some countries failing to detect and confiscate more than a fraction of the birds illegally stolen from the wild. It is a massive problem in Indonesia, where illegal export is facilitated by the fact that there are over 17,000 islands. It is impossible to police the borders, as might happen in South America, for example.

In Indonesia, many Parrot species, especially Lories, are restricted to certain small islands and tragically, at least two have been trapped to extinction. One of these is Trichoglossus forsteni djampeanus, from the island of Tanajampea.

It looks like an intensely coloured Forsten’s or Scarlet-breasted Lorikeet (IUCN Endangered). However, it has been suggested that it might survive on the tiny island of Kalao (111km²). Mitchell’s Lorikeet (T.f.mitchelli) is also probably extinxt. The gorgeous nominate subspecies of the Red and Blue Lory (Eos histrio histrio) from the Sangihe Islands is another believed to be extinct.

The subspecies talautensis survives on the island of Karakelang in the Talaud Islands. Trapping was most intensive during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993 at least 700 talautensis were exported and at least one thousand were captured. In one year!

The rising cost of living

This can have an adverse impact on Parrot populations in various ways. It increases the trapping of wild Parrots, as some people become desperate for extra income in any form.

The problem is influenced by increasing poverty in many tropical countries, due to climate change, often caused by deforestation, and by other environmental abuse such as draining of the wetlands and the mangroves. The massive human population growth has caused wars and starvation, thus many more birds and animals are killed as ‘bush meat’.

All wildlife is under extreme pressure, for food and for trade, but because of their beauty, and in Asia their song, birds are the primary targets. As an appalling example, in November 2024, more than 6,500 illegally traded birds were seized from just one truck on the island of Sumatra. Most of these were song birds.

The sale of wild-caught Parrots still occurs in South and Central America, often in contravention of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and national laws that ban unauthorised trade in wild animals.

A study of pet markets in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, found that over 22,000 individuals of 31 Parrot species, 94% of which were wild-caught, were illegally traded every year. This level of trade is comparable in other Bolivian cities (Herrera and Hennessey 2007).

In some areas so few young fledge that the breeding population is an ageing one, which will suddenly crash to extinction in the region. This applies to many Parrot species

The most targeted species is the charismatic and much-loved Blue-fronted or Turquoise-fronted Amazon (Amazona aestiva), which has declined throughout its large range due to illegal trapping. In 2019 it was given Near Threatened Status (IUCN) but in fact, it is highly threatened throughout much of its range.

See also https://www.northernparrots.com/blog/blue-fronted...

In 1997 Gláucia Seixas started a project to rear confiscated chicks and to rehabilitate and release those that survived. She has also carried out important studies of their breeding biology. (For more information visit: The Blue-fronted Amazon Project www.papagaioverdadeiro.org.br).

Countless thousands of chick have been confiscated by police and taken to rehabilitation centres. The confiscated birds are only part of the story. Most stolen chicks are never found or they die from malnutrition and neglect.

It can be months before the survivors are fit for release. But where can they be liberated without the risk of recapture? In the Pantanal region of southern Brazil 80% is covered in cattle ranches. Birdwatchers flock to the tourist lodges there, thus the birds around ranches are protected and many of these areas have become unofficial reserves and release sites.

Habitat loss is another important factor in the decline of this Parrot. In Argentina and Brazil I have seen huge areas given over to agriculture, especially soya, where once stood vast forests inhabited by these and other Parrots.

In Brazil Prof. Dr Luís Fábio Silveira assists NGOs and the police in rescuing seized Parrots. Renowned as the Curator of Birds at the Zoological Museum of the University of São Paulo, conservation and reintroduction to the wild of captive-bred birds of threatened species are his special interest.

He told me: ‘Between August and December thousands of chicks are confiscated, mainly in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. This traffic has continued for decades along established routes by well-known and repeat offenders. Chicks are taken to sales events, mistreated, crammed into boxes, suffer heat and stress and sold at low prices.’

Please do not help this illegal trade to thrive by buying illegally trapped and exported birds, ask a lot of questions. Look at the ring the bird is wearing. It should be a closed ring of the correct size. If the price is low, be suspicious. It is not likely to be a bargain.

And if the bird is diseased and dies soon after purchase (due to bad conditions after capture), do not be surprised if the telephone number is no longer operating when you call the seller to complain. Unfortunately, many people who are not well informed about birds, buy these Parrots. Don’t be one of them.

How optimistic can we be about the future of Parrots in the wild? There are now many good projects that are preserving individual populations of threatened species which give some cause for optimism.

However, with a good knowledge of the state of the habitats of Parrots and the threats of illegal trapping which are occurring worldwide, it is not easy to be optimistic. As Nigel Collar said in September 2024, when he spoke at a meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Union in London: ‘Conservation optimism is not enough. We need conservation realism. That also means responsible pessimism.’

References

Herrera, M. and Hennessey, B. (2007), Quantifying the illegal Parrot

trade in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, with emphasis on threatened

species. Bird Conserv. Int. 17: 295–300.

McLardy, C. and N. Burnett, 2012. A review of the trade in live wild

birds into the European Union 1994-2003 - orders Psittaciformes,

Falconiformes and Strigiformes. JNCC report, No. 417.

Please find links to some very important Parrot conservation Project, where you can find out more about the important work they are doing, as well as way you can support them’

the Hyacinth Macaw in the Pantanal:

https://www.institutoararaazul.org.br/

Red-fronted Macaw in Bolivia:

https://abcbirds.org/program/communities/red-fronted-macaw/

Yellow-naped Amazon in Central America

https://pasopacifico.org/

El Oro Conure in Ecuador

https://www.rainforesttrust.org/urgent-projects/saving-the-el-oro-parakeet/

Photos copyright

Rosemary Low