Cuban Parrot
Encyclopedia
The Cuban Amazon, Amazona leucocephala, also known as Cuban Parrot or the Rose-throated Parrot, is a medium-sized mainly green parrot
found in woodlands and dry forests of Cuba
, the Bahamas
and Cayman Islands
in the Caribbean
.
pink, and its forehead and eye-rings are white. The extent of the various colours of the head, the extent of the rosy pink on the upper chest, and the extent of the dull red on the abdomen vary between the subspecies
. Its irises
are pale olive-green, its beak is horn-coloured, and the feathers over the ears are blackish. The legs are pink. The juvenile has little or no red on the abdomen, less black edging on the green feathers, and some of the feathers on the top of its head may be pale yellow rather than white.
.
A. l. palmarum (Todd
, 1916) was thought to be a separate subspecies living in western Cuba (east to Villa Clara Province
) and Isla de la Juventud based on differences in the plumage
, but in 1928 a re-evaluation indicated that the colour differences were due to age-related variations and that they showed no substantial differences to the specimens obtained from the rest of Cuba (i.e., A. l. leucocephala sensu stricto). The two populations are very similar genetically
, but some authorities have maintained that A. l. palmarum is a valid subspecies. A recent review based on morphology
and plumage supported the distinction of A. l. palmarum (at least if restricted to the population on Isla de la Juventud), it having a longer wing chord and metatarsus
, and a larger rosy pink throat patch than A. l. leucocephala of the Cuban mainland. This review also revealed differences among the populations on the various islands in the Bahamas (some of which had already been pointed out earlier), leading to the suggestion of restricting A. l. bahamensis to the now extirpated population of the Acklins and Crooked Islands, while it was proposed that the two extant populations from the Abaco Islands and the Inagua Islands each represent a new subspecies. The recognition of three subspecies from the Bahamas is also supported by genetics.
On the Cayman Islands the parrot lives in dry forest and on agricultural land. The population living on Grand Cayman numbers about 3,400 individuals (2006 survey), and the population on Cayman Brac consists of 400–500 individuals. The population on Little Cayman was extirpated in the 1940s.
The populations were estimated at about 3,550 individuals on Abaco and 6,350 on Inagua in 2006. The population on the Acklins and Crooked Islands was extirpated in the 1940s, while it, based on fossil
remains and archeological findings, historically also has been present on several other islands in the Bahamas (e.g., New Providence
and San Salvador
) and on Grand Turk Island
.
s and seed
s including the fruits of palm trees
and West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni
) seeds.
solution holes, where they are protected from pineyard wildfire
s. Two to four white eggs are laid, which are incubated
by the female for 26–28 days.
on the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species. It is protected with a listing on Appendix I of CITES, which prohibits international trade of listed wild-caught species.
outside of Cuba and Florida
(where it was bred in captivity by Cuban immigrants) until the 1980s and is considered one of the more difficult to breed Amazon parrot
s, with aggressive behaviour from cock birds towards their mates and their own chicks a relatively common occurrence. Despite increased availability in recent times, the Cuban Amazon is still one of the highest-priced of all amazons. Several colour mutations have been observed in captive-bred stock.
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
found in woodlands and dry forests of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
and Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
Description
The Cuban Amazon is a medium-sized parrot 28 – long. It is mainly green with some blue feathers in its wings. The green feathers are edged with a terminal black rim. Its lower face, chin and throat are rosyRose (color)
Rose is the color halfway between red and magenta on the HSV color wheel, also known as the RGB color wheel, on which it is at hue angle of 330 degrees.Rose is one of the tertiary colors on the HSV color wheel...
pink, and its forehead and eye-rings are white. The extent of the various colours of the head, the extent of the rosy pink on the upper chest, and the extent of the dull red on the abdomen vary between the subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
. Its irises
Iris (anatomy)
The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...
are pale olive-green, its beak is horn-coloured, and the feathers over the ears are blackish. The legs are pink. The juvenile has little or no red on the abdomen, less black edging on the green feathers, and some of the feathers on the top of its head may be pale yellow rather than white.
Taxonomy
Traditionally, most authorities have recognize four subspecies of the Cuban Amazon, thereby following the 1928 review by James Lee PetersJames Lee Peters
James Lee Peters was an American ornithologist.Peters was Curator of Birds at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Harvard University...
.
- A. l. leucocephala (Linnaeus, 1758). Present throughout CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, including Isla de la Juventud (formerly known as Isla de Pinos). - A. l. bahamensis (H. Bryant, 1867), also called the Bahama Amazon. Two extant populations in the BahamasThe BahamasThe Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
; one on the Abaco IslandsAbaco IslandsThe Abaco Islands lie in the northern Bahamas and comprise the main islands of Great Abaco and Little Abaco, together with the smaller Wood Cay, Elbow Cay, Lubbers Quarters Cay, Green Turtle Cay, Great Guana Cay, Castaway Cay, Man-o-War Cay, Stranger's Cay, Umbrella Cay, Walker's Cay, Little Grand...
and one on Great InaguaInaguaInagua is the southernmost district of the Bahamas comprising the islands of Great Inagua and Little Inagua.Great Inagua is the third largest island in The Bahamas at 596 sq mi and lies about 55 miles from the eastern tip of Cuba. The island is about 55 x 19 miles in extent, the highest point...
(with sightings from nearby Little InaguaLittle Inagua- See also :*Inagua*List of Islands of The Bahamas...
). Now extirpated populations were present on the Acklins and Crooked IslandsAcklins and Crooked IslandsAcklins and Crooked Islands was a district of the Bahamas until 1996, and as Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay until 1999....
and possibly also elsewhere in the Bahamas. - A. l. caymanensis (CoryCharles B. CoryCharles Barney Cory was an American ornithologist and golfer.-Biography:Cory was born in Boston. His father had made a fortune from a large import business, ensuring that his son never had to work. At the age of sixteen Cory developed an interest in ornithology and began a skin collection...
, 1886), also called the Grand Cayman Amazon. Restricted to Grand CaymanGrand CaymanGrand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the nation's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles southwest of Cayman Brac.-Geography:Grand Cayman encompasses 76% of...
Island. - A. l. hesterna BangsOutram BangsOutram Bangs was an American zoologist.Bangs was born in Watertown, Massachusetts and studied at Harvard from 1880 to 1884...
, 1916. Now restricted to the island of Cayman BracCayman BracCayman Brac is an island that is part of the Cayman Islands. It lies in the Caribbean Sea about 90 miles northeast of Grand Cayman and 5 miles east of Little Cayman. It is about 12 miles long, with an average width of 1 mile...
, but formerly also on Little CaymanLittle CaymanLittle Cayman is an island that is part of the Cayman Islands. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, about 75 miles northeast of Grand Cayman and five miles west of Cayman Brac. Little Cayman has a permanent population of less than 170 and is about 10 miles long with an average width of 1 mile...
.
A. l. palmarum (Todd
Walter Edmond Clyde Todd
Walter Edmond Clyde Todd , generally known as W.E. Clyde Todd, was an American ornithologist....
, 1916) was thought to be a separate subspecies living in western Cuba (east to Villa Clara Province
Villa Clara Province
Villa Clara is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is located in the central region of the island bordering with the Atlantic at north, Matanzas Province by west, Sancti Spiritus by east, and Cienfuegos on the South. Villa Clara shares with Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus on the south the Escambray...
) and Isla de la Juventud based on differences in the plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
, but in 1928 a re-evaluation indicated that the colour differences were due to age-related variations and that they showed no substantial differences to the specimens obtained from the rest of Cuba (i.e., A. l. leucocephala sensu stricto). The two populations are very similar genetically
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
, but some authorities have maintained that A. l. palmarum is a valid subspecies. A recent review based on morphology
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
and plumage supported the distinction of A. l. palmarum (at least if restricted to the population on Isla de la Juventud), it having a longer wing chord and metatarsus
Tarsometatarsus
The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is found in the lower leg of certain tetrapods, namely birds.It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsal and metatarsal bones...
, and a larger rosy pink throat patch than A. l. leucocephala of the Cuban mainland. This review also revealed differences among the populations on the various islands in the Bahamas (some of which had already been pointed out earlier), leading to the suggestion of restricting A. l. bahamensis to the now extirpated population of the Acklins and Crooked Islands, while it was proposed that the two extant populations from the Abaco Islands and the Inagua Islands each represent a new subspecies. The recognition of three subspecies from the Bahamas is also supported by genetics.
Distribution and habitat
The Cuban Amazon lives in different habitats on different islands. It was once found throughout Cuba, but it is now mainly confined to the forested areas of the main island and Isla de la Juventud. There are about 10,000 individuals in Cuba including an estimated 1,100–1,320 on Isla de la Juventud.On the Cayman Islands the parrot lives in dry forest and on agricultural land. The population living on Grand Cayman numbers about 3,400 individuals (2006 survey), and the population on Cayman Brac consists of 400–500 individuals. The population on Little Cayman was extirpated in the 1940s.
The populations were estimated at about 3,550 individuals on Abaco and 6,350 on Inagua in 2006. The population on the Acklins and Crooked Islands was extirpated in the 1940s, while it, based on fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
remains and archeological findings, historically also has been present on several other islands in the Bahamas (e.g., New Providence
New Providence
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It also houses the national capital city, Nassau.The island was originally under Spanish control following Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, but the Spanish government showed...
and San Salvador
San Salvador Island
San Salvador Island, also known as Watlings Island, is an island and district of the Bahamas. Until 1986, when the National Geographic Society suggested Samana Cay, it was widely believed that during his first expedition to the New World, San Salvador Island was the first land sighted and visited...
) and on Grand Turk Island
Grand Turk Island
Grand Turk Island is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is the largest island in the Turks Islands with . It contains the territory's capital, Cockburn Town and the JAGS McCartney International Airport...
.
Behaviour
In the winter Cuban Amazons gather in flocks, and disperse into pairs during the breeding season.Diet
The Cuban Amazon feeds on a number of fruitFruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s and seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s including the fruits of palm trees
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
and West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni
Swietenia mahagoni
Swietenia mahagoni, commonly known as the West Indies Mahogany, is a species of Swietenia native to southern Florida, USA, The Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola. It is the species from which the original mahogany wood was produced....
) seeds.
Breeding
The breeding season is from March to September. Cuban Amazons nest in tree cavities throughout most of its range, the only exception being that the parrots living on the Abaco Islands nest underground in limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
solution holes, where they are protected from pineyard wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
s. Two to four white eggs are laid, which are incubated
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
by the female for 26–28 days.
Status
Due to ongoing habitat loss, occasional natural disasters and trapping for the wild parrot trade, the Cuban Amazon is evaluated as Near ThreatenedNear Threatened
Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...
on the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
of Threatened Species. It is protected with a listing on Appendix I of CITES, which prohibits international trade of listed wild-caught species.
Aviculture
The Cuban Amazon was seldom-seen in avicultureAviculture
Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds and the culture that forms around it. Aviculture is generally focused on not only the raising and breeding of birds, but also on preserving avian habitat, and public awareness campaigns....
outside of Cuba and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
(where it was bred in captivity by Cuban immigrants) until the 1980s and is considered one of the more difficult to breed Amazon parrot
Amazon parrot
Amazon parrot is the common name for a parrot of the genus Amazona. These are medium-size parrots native to the New World ranging from South America to Mexico and the Caribbean....
s, with aggressive behaviour from cock birds towards their mates and their own chicks a relatively common occurrence. Despite increased availability in recent times, the Cuban Amazon is still one of the highest-priced of all amazons. Several colour mutations have been observed in captive-bred stock.
External links
- World Parrot Trust Parrot Encyclopedia - Species Profile
- Cuban Amazon Video in Zapata Swamp,Cuba