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ABACO PARROTS – CAROLINE STAHALA’S REPORT

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CAROLINE STAHALA was introduced in an early parrot post on this blog – see  DELPHI CLUB ABACO – PARROT RESEARCH & CONSERVATION. That post will route you to her thesis and to an article in The Abaconian about her work. She has just sent a report about her current researches (and there will be future updates):

At the moment we are in full chick mode.  All the parrot nests (45 nests!) that we have been finding and monitoring since the end of May have hatched.  Next week I will begin banding these chicks so that we can recognize them as individuals and learn more about their behavior. Here is a picture of a chick banding from last year:In addition to banding chicks, I am going to be attempting to catch 3 mated adult pairs and place radio transmitters on these parrots.  This will give us information about what pairs do during the nonbreeding season, how frequently they interact, and whether the amount of interaction during the nonbreeding season influences how well they do during the  breeding season.  

This year, for the first time, I have set up cameras at nest sites to find out how frequently nests are being visited by potential predators and, also, who these predators might be. We have already detected cats, rats and mice at the nest sites using the cameras.  Here is a picture of a feral cat at one of the nest sites:
Caroline has asked me to mention that the project is in desperate need of a new field vehicle – the old one is dying a slow painful death.  She is working with a nonprofit organization Parrots International (www.parrotsinternational.org) to raise funds for the new truck (see BLOGROLL for their direct link to Caroline’s research). If  anyone would like to support this cause, it would be greatly appreciated:

If you are interested in subscribing or donating to support the conservation project to save the Abaco population of the Bahama Parrot, the direct link to the subscription / donation page is          http://www.parrotsinternational.org/main-join.html

Finally, I sent Caroline an image of a particular Parrot taken by me earlier this year. Ricky Johnson said he had never seen one with so much red on its front – almost reaching its tail. And he should know…

Caroline’s reply  “I have not seen a parrot with quite that much red on its belly, however it is not completely surprising.  One of the features of the Abaco parrot is more red on the chest and belly than other Cuban Amazon populations. Even within a population there is quite a bit of variation of the red. Some Abaco parrots may just have the red throat with a few red feathers, but they do go to the extreme found in your picture.  Usually though you have a small red patch on the belly or what looks like spotty red areas on the belly.  Very neat picture!” (rh note – thanks, but in fairness I should add that the whole group of about 12 of us took pretty much the same photo of this parrot…)

3 thoughts on “ABACO PARROTS – CAROLINE STAHALA’S REPORT”

  1. Pingback: ABACO PARROT POST – FLEDGING UPDATE | rollingharbour

  2. Thanks Trish and Alex, glad you are enjoying the posts. I think Keith will be posting an update soon with more photos. – Caroline

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