Parrots (Ornithology)

We used radio-telemetry techniques to determine hourly activity patterns of 29 juvenile Lilac-crowned Parrots (Amazona finschi) during 1996–2000 in tropical dry forest of Jalisco, Mexico. Parrots had two peak activity periods—early morning and late afternoon—for both overall activity and local movement. Individuals were generally inactive and did not change location for 5–6 hr during the middle of the day. Parrots were more active in the dry season than in the rainy season, although movements resulting in a change of location did not vary between seasons. Seasonal variations in activity of Lilac-crowned Parrots may be related to variations in food availability or temperature. Activity patterns of parrots need to be considered when evaluating habitat use or survey data.

Entrenamiento de psitácidos para la participación voluntaria durante procedimientos veterinarios Una de las principales funciones del médico veterinario en los zoológicos, santuarios y otros centros de conservación que albergan fauna salvaje es garantizar el bienestar de los animales y no úicamente la salud física de éstos, que aunque es parte fundamental del bienestar de un individuo no es su totalidad. El control sobre las interacciones con el ambiente y la posibilidad de decidir, por ejemplo, son factores de gran relevancia para el bienestar de los animales. Las conductas de evasión y escape asociadas a miedo suelen aumentar considerablemente cuando el veterinario clínico aparce en escena, los animales aprenden que su presencia está asociada a eventos desagradables de los que no pueden huír. Temple Grandin sostiene que el miedo es capaz de producir un mayor incremento de las hormonas asociadas con el estrés que muchos factores físicos adversos, esto aunado al grado de incomodidad que el confinamiento y sus consecuencias provoca en las aves supone que el nivel de bienestar de los animales sea pobre y sin duda, se verá reflejando en la expresión de comportamientos anormales. Convencionalmente se opta por solicitar al cuidador que confine al animal en un espacio reducido para que a la llegada del veterinaio su manejo se simplifique a la contención física y/o química para la posterior atención veterinaria requerida. Estas prácticas sin duda afectarán el trabajo de cuidadores y el bienstar de las aves pues se perderá la confianza, fundamental para la seguridad y bienestar de cuidadores y animales.

For the past five years I’ve been doing research on the cognitive abilities of African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus), attempting to document not only their remark-able linguistic abilities but also examining the way that they interact with their human caretakers, specifically Greys who have been home-raised and hence exposed to a language-rich environment. Given that literally no work has been done on the linguistic abilities of Greys raised in home environments, the research I’ve carried out to date and which will be discussed in this chapter must be viewed as preliminary, although not necessarily ground-breaking for that term needs to be applied to the outstanding research that Dr. Irene Pepperberg has carried out in her laboratory where she demonstrated the remarkable cognitive abilities of her Greys, Alex, Griffin and Arthur.
Pepperberg’s conclusion—which is accepted by animal behaviourists—is that the cognitive abilities of Greys allow them to be ranked as having reasoning skills equivalent to those of a 2- to 3-year-old human child and in some specific areas the tests showed that a Grey is capable of performing at the level of a 5-year old. Quite surprisingly, leaving aside the outstanding work of Pepperberg and her highly insightful commentaries on the speech production and verbal interactions that her Greys had with her and members of her laboratory staff (Pepperberg 2009), to my knowledge, there still has been no inquiry into how the proven cognitive abilities of these laboratory-trained birds relate to the way that home-raised Greys communicate verbally with humans. While there is a plethora of studies and speculations about how songbirds acquire their songs, no such similar work has been done on Greys in home settings. In any case, Pepperberg’s remarkable research results provide support for the following proposition: that there would be nothing inherently wrong with suggesting complex cognitive interpretations of the verbal performance of home-raised Greys given that the species in question has already been proven to have high intelligence (Waal 2016:41–42).

While scholars may know that the 'sultan of Babylon' sent Frederick II a 'white parrot', few are aware of the existence of four sketches, indicating it was a Sulphur or Yellow-crested Cockatoo. As these were made two and a half centuries before what was thought to be the earliest European image of the Australasian cockatoo - in Andrea Mantegna's 1496 Madonna della Vittoria - the authors consider the events and shared interests that led the sultan to give this bird to Frederick and how it would have arrived on the Apennine Peninsula in the first half of the thirteenth century.
Published with Jukka Salo, Pekka Niemelä and Simo Örmä.

The earliest image of an Australasian parrot by a European artist predates the arrival of Vasco de Gama’s fleet at Calicut on the Malabar Coast in 1498. This article focuses on that image - a small but significant detail in Andrea Mantegna’s Madonna della Vittoria, completed in Mantua in 1496. Although Mantegna’s altarpiece has been the subject of attention in modern scholarship, the significance of the cockatoo has not been explored. In this article, I consider why Mantegna would have included a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo in his altarpiece and the symbolic significance of its position in the composition. I also explore the intriguing issue of how a creature native to regions considered to have been beyond Europe’s trading reach in 1496 could have appeared in a Renaissance artwork. The Sulphur-crested Cockatoo in the Madonna della Vittoria provides a unique opportunity to place fifteenth century Italy in its global context. Its presence not only confirms the interests and purchasing power of Mantegna and his patrons, the Gonzagas, it reveals the complexity and range of Southeast Asian trading networks prior to direct European contact.

Despite the broad environmental tolerance of the Military Macaw (Ara militaris) reflected in its wide ecological distribution, most surveyed populations in the few studied breeding areas in Mexico present, 100 individuals. Although records of the species include several regions across the country, most groups recorded include, 50 macaws. Prior to this report, the largest known breeding Mexican population documented was the Tehuaca´n-Cuicatla´n nesting colony with 100 macaws. Over the last 8 years, we surveyed the macaw population nesting in tropical coastal forests located in the southern portions of Bahia de Banderas, the bay where Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco is located. We systematically assessed the macaw population by counting the flocks occurring in 3 forested areas located 20–37 km apart and assumed to harbor different and independent macaw groups. The macaw abundance was surveyed during 35 consecutive months from February 2012 through December 2014. Based on location of the surveys, the timing of the observations, and the flight direction of the 3 distinct macaw groups, we inferred that each uses different foraging, roosting, and nesting areas. Higher abundance for each population was observed during February–May each year, contrasting with a low level of activity observed during the summer months of July–August. We assumed that the macaws exhibit nomadic behavior outside the region during summer. The 3 populations may constitute a metapopulation that congregates after the fledglings acquire flying skills during the initial months of the nonbreeding season on the 3 different areas. During March 2013, the highest concentration was registered in the Yelapa region, where 215 macaws were observed in a colonial roost, constituting the largest aggregation documented for the species. If data from the 3 populations surveyed are combined, the estimated number of macaws is 363 birds for 2014. Based on our data, we believe the region harbors a vital population for the long-term survival of the Military Macaw in central western Pacific and Mexico.

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Ecotourism generates important revenue in many developing economies, but poorly regulated ecotourism can threaten the long-term viability of key biological re-sources. We determined the effects of tourism, boat traffic, and natural disturbances on parrot geophagy (soil consumption) across seven riverine claylicks in the low-lands of Madre de Dios, Peru. Claylick use significantly decreased when visitors did not follow good practice guidelines and tourist numbers exceeded the capacity of the observation blinds. Otherwise, tourist presence and natural disturbance did not have a significant effect. However, large macaws, particularly red-and-green macaws (Ara chloropterus), avoided visiting claylicks during periods of peak tourist num-bers. Where parrots had multiple geophagy sites to choose from, they preferred sites further from tourist groups. The effect of boat disturbance was greatest on a narrow river with infrequent boat events. On a wider river with heavier traffic, boat disturb-ance had less of an effect and this effect was inversely proportional to the distance of boats from the claylick. Where visitors followed good-practice tourism guide-lines, they had a low overall negative effect on parrot geophagy. We recommend that visitors respect the claylick observation guidelines to minimize anthropogenic dis-turbance on parrots and maintain these sites for the benefit of wildlife and humans alike.

Background: Understanding the role of avian vocal communication in social organisation requires knowledge of the vocal repertoire used to convey information. Parrots use acoustic signals in a variety of social contexts, but no studies have evaluated cross-functional use of acoustic signals by parrots, or whether these conform to signal design rules for different behavioural contexts. We statistically characterised the vocal repertoire of 61 free-living Lilac-crowned Amazons (Amazona finschi) in nine behavioural contexts (nesting, threat, alarm, foraging, perched, takeoff , flight, landing, and food soliciting). We aimed to determine whether parrots demonstrated contextual flexibility in their vocal repertoire, and whether these acoustic signals follow design rules that could maximise communication.

En Honduras se reportan 16 especies de psitácidos (pericos, loros y guacamayas) que están incluidos en 8 géneros que se encuentran en los bosques tropicales húmedos en Honduras. El estado de conservación de los psitácidos se desconoce, y sus principales amenazas como la perdida de hábitat y el comercio ilegal están mermando sus poblaciones. La Asociación Cuerpos de Conservación Omoa viene realizando estudios referentes a la avifauna en Cuyamel-Omoa, por ejemplo: listado de aves; monitoreos y conteos de la lora cabeza-amarilla y otros psitácidos. Por consiguiente, las investigaciones de las poblaciones de psitácidos y en especial para la lora cabeza-amarilla es prioritario para Honduras. El objetivo general de este estudio consistió en identificar la abundancia relativa y distribución geográfica de la lora cabeza-amarilla (Amazona oratrix) y demás psitácidos en el Subsistema de Áreas Protegidas Cuyamel-Omoa (SAPCO), Honduras. Se estimó una abundancia relativa de 459 psitácidos con el análisis del número mínimo de individuos diferentes (MNDI) en el Subsistema de Áreas Protegidas Cuyamel-Omoa. Esto representa una reducción del 12% de avistamientos comparado con el muestreo realizado en 2015. Las especies con mayor abundancia relativa fueron los pericos pecho-sucio (Eupsittula nana - 136 individuos) y las loras frente-roja (Amazona autumnalis – 95 individuos). No obstante, para el objeto de conservación, lora cabeza amarilla (Amazona oratrix) presento una reducción en sus avistamientos comparado con el estudio en 2015 (89 individuos).

By examining two exemplary cases, this paper addresses the contemporary phenomenon of artistic collaborations between human and non-human animals, which is referred to as interspecies art. Interspecies art has become increasingly significant since the beginning of the twenty-first century and excels at challenging binary oppositions by crediting animals’ creative abilities. Located within the field of human-animal studies, this article combines art historical methods with agency concepts derived from praxeology and action theory. The innovative approach of connecting these ideas of animal agency with interspecies art provides the framework to analyse Aaron Angell’s Gallery Peacetime inhabited by axolotls and CMUK, an interspecies collective consisting of humans and parrots. In order to make the animals’ participation visible as well as to provide a deeper understanding of interspecies art, these specific human-animal relations are examined using Lisa Jevbratt’s and Jessica Ullrich’s criteria for interspecies art and Mieke Roscher’s concepts of entangled and relational agency. This analysis is complemented by a field study and proves to be fertile for revealing the animals’ strong involvement in the artworks as well as beyond the art context.
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Vorliegend werden zwei Agency-Konzepte nach der Historikerin Mieke Roscher in Fallbeispielen aus dem Kunstkontext erprobt und auf Aaron Angell's "Gallery Peacetime" und das Interspezies-Kollaborativ CMUK angewendet.

Background: Dietary specialization should arise when there is a relatively high abundance of a particular resource, where animals may select food items to obtain an optimal diet that maximizes energy intake. Large-bodied psitta-cines frequently exhibit a narrow dietary niche with specific habitat use, but few studies have determined whether psittacines select food resources, and how this influences habitat use. Methods: We established fruiting phenology transects to evaluate food resource availability for the large-bodied Military Macaw (Ara militaris) in semi-deciduous, deciduous, and pine-oak forest at two sites along the coast of Jalisco, during the dry season when macaws are nesting. We also determined Military Macaw diet by observations of foraging macaws along transect routes, and conducted bromatological analysis of the nutritional content of the most consumed resource. Results: Military Macaws used six plant species as food items during the dry season, and had a narrow dietary niche (Levins' B = 0.28), with 56% of foraging macaws consuming the seeds of Hura polyandra. No food resources were recorded in pine-oak forest during the dry season, with food resources and foraging by macaws concentrated in tropical deciduous and semi-deciduous forest, where H. polyandra was the most abundant fruiting tree species. When considering the proportional availability of food resources, we determined a broad Hurlbert dietary niche breadth of H = 0.67, indicating that Military Macaws consumed food resources according to their availability. Furthermore, the seeds of H. polyandra were an important source of protein, carbohydrates, minerals and moisture, and the hard fruit-casing means that these seeds are exclusively available for macaws. Conclusions: By concentrating their diet on the most abundant resources, Military Macaws may increase foraging efficiency in the dry season. The high nutrient content also means that concentrating the diet on seeds of H. polyan-dra may be an optimal foraging strategy for Military Macaws to meet their energy requirements during the breeding season.

Large-bodied secondary cavity-nesters are constrained to use cavities of sufficient size to permit access, while also selecting characteristics to reduce predation. However, no information exists on nest-site availability for large-bodied secondary cavity-nesters in tropical forests. We located 12 tree-cavity nests of the threatened Military Macaw (Ara militaris) in tropical dry semi-deciduous forest in Jalisco, Mexico. For each nest, we determined cavity characteristics, and compared the structure of nest-trees with nearest-neighbor trees. We also established four 100 × 50 m transects in each of deciduous, semi-deciduous, and oak forest to determine tree-cavity availability over 6 ha. Military Macaw nest-sites occurred most frequently in cavities of live Enterolobium cyclocarpum trees. Nest-trees had significantly larger diameter and ramification height than the four nearest-neighbor trees, indicating that macaws selected tall emergent trees as nest-sites. Cavities used as nest-sites by Military Macaws were also in significantly larger trees, at a greater height, and had larger entrance diameter and depth than all accessible cavities. Height above the ground was the main criteria predicting nest-cavity selection, possibly to reduce predation risk. There was also a negative correlation of nest-cavity height with depth, suggesting a trade-off in which Military Macaws may select a nest-cavity high above the ground regardless of depth, but when using lower cavities these tend to be deeper. We found a low density of cavities with characteristics suitable for nesting, and these were concentrated in semi-deciduous forest. Our results demonstrate that the Military Macaw exhibits species-specific selection of nest-cavities, with a low density of cavities suitable for large-bodied secondary cavity-nesters in tropical forests

Summary: The White Cockatoo Cacatua alba is endemic to the North Molucca islands and is considered Endangered mostly due to unsustainable levels of trappingforthepettrade.Littleisknown about its breeding biology in the wild, except that it nests in tall trees during the early part of the year. We made brief observations of two active nests of White Cockatoos on Halmahera and another on Ternate in February and March 2014, and estimate the egg laying dates of two of these nests as mid-October and mid- November. Combined with other data, the breeding season appears to extend from October to May or June. All three nests were visited by Blyth’s Hornbills Rhyticeros plicatus, a species which occurs throughout North Maluku, as well as New Guinea. One nest was subsequently abandoned. In September and November 2014, we observed two active nest cavities of hornbills, one of which was inspected by a cockatoo, and the other, approached closely by cockatoos. Both hornbill nests were reported to have been used previously by White Cockatoos, suggesting that the two species may either share or compete for the samenestcavities.Sharingofcavitiesmay be facilitated by partly non-overlapping breeding seasons, as Blyth’s Hornbill reportedly lays eggs from August to October in the region. However, as the nest cycle of both species is c.4 months, it is possible that early nesting pairs of one species may attempt to usurp nest cavities occupied by the other species. The potential for nest competition may be exacerbated on small islands where deforestation has reduced the number of nest cavities available for hole-nesting species.

ABSTRAK Kajian tentang pemeliharaan burung paruh bengkok di Maluku Utara telah dilaksanakan pada bulan April sampai bulan Juli 2012. Metode pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah survei dengan melakukan wawancara terhadap 800 responden rumah tangga di 2 kota di Maluku Utara, yaitu Ternate dan Tobelo. Sebanyak 28 pertanyaan diajukan kepada responden terkait kepemilikan burung, cara mendapatkan, cara pemeliharaan, alasan memelihara, serta persepsi terhadap perilaku memelihara burung terkait dengan kelestariannya. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan sebanyak 13,6 % rumah tangga memelihara burung. Jenis yang paling banyak dipelihara adalah burung paruh bengkok, seperti kasturi ternate Lorius garrulus (68,2%), kemudian disusul secara berurut-urut kakatua putih Cacatua alba (10,1 %), nuri bayan Eclectus roratus (7,3 %) dan nuri kalung-ungu Eos squamata (16%), sementara jenis lainnya adalah nuri kepala hitam Lorius lory, serta bukan jenis paruh bengkok seperti julang irian Rhyticeros plicatus, merpati Columba livia, dan pergam kaca mata Ducula perspicillata dengan jumlah kira-kira sama. Alasan memelihara burung paling banyak adalah karena bisa menirukan kata (75,3%). Burung biasanya dipelihara dengan merantai kakinya di gantungan kayu (71%) dan pemelihara juga mencabut bulu sayap burung untuk mencegahnya terbang (34%). Rendahnya pengetahuan terhadap pemeliharaan burung berdampak pada tidak terpenuhinya kesejahteraan burung peliharaan dan rendahnya kesadaran terhadap kelestarian burung menjadi ancaman utama kepunahan burung di alam. Kata kunci: paruh bengkok, perilaku memelihara burung, Maluku Utara, wawancara ABSTRACT Information of parrots bird keeping in North Maluku is available since the study has been conducted during April until July 2012. We interviewed 800 households in Ternate and Tobelo, North Maluku with total of 28 questions. The Questions were about the ownership of the birds, how to get, reason and how to keep care, as well as the perception of bird conservation related to bird-keeping. The results showed 13.6% of households keeping birds. Chattering lory Lorius garrulus were found to be the most popular pet (68.2%), followed by white cockatoo Cacatua alba (10.1%), eclectus parrot Eclectus roratus (7.3%) and violet-necked lory Eos squamata (16%), the rest is divided equally respectively black-capped lory Lorius lory, and non-parrot species; blyth's hornbill Rhyticeros plicatus, rock dove Columba livia, spectacled imperial-pigeon Ducula perspicillata. Birds were usually found with chained legs on wooden hangers (71%) and about 34% bird found with the flight feather hacked off to prevent escape. The concern for animal welfare were relatively low as well as for bird conservation.

During the occupation of Mauritius by the Dutch in the seventeenth century, live dodos and other animals were transported
to the east and west as curiosities and gifts by the Dutch East India Company. How these animals managed to survive these
journeys, when human casualties on-board ship were so high, has remained a mystery. Here, we present for the first time a
translation of the recently discovered report of Johannes Pretorius, who stayed on Mauritius from 1666 to 1669. Pretorius
kept a number of now extinct birds in captivity, which was probably an experiment to ascertain their captive requirements
prior to transportation. He also provides the first ecological details of some of the now-extinct birds and Mauritian giant
tortoises, the impact of introduced animals, and highlights how little of the interior of Mauritius had actually been explored
during this time.

We identified species- and community-level dietary characteristics for a species-rich Amazonian parrot assemblage to determine relationships among dietary metrics and use of geophagy sites. Previous studies suggest that soil is consumed at geophagy sites in this region mainly to supplement dietary sodium. We accumulated 1400 feeding records for 16 parrot species over 2 yr and found that seeds, flowers, and fruit pulp featured prominently in diets, while bark, insects, and lichen were consumed in small quantities. Food availability
across 1819 trees was measured, and we found that flower availability was highest in the dry season and fruit production peaked in the wet season, but that phenology patterns of the 20 most commonly foraged plant species suggest no serious food bottlenecks. Partitioning of available food resources among the 13 most commonly encountered parrots is suggested by an ordination analysis (DCA), which
placed the large macaws (Ara) with the Amazona parrots at the ‘primary forest’ end of a dietary resource axis and four smaller species at the ‘successional forest’ end of the axis. Parrot species associated with successional forest also consumed less plant species overall. Furthermore, these parrot species consuming successional forest resources had higher claylick visitation rates than those consuming primary forest resources suggesting they derive the greatest benefits from soil consumption.

Psittaciformes (parrots, cockatoos) are among the most endangered birds, with 31% of Neotropical species under
threat. The drivers of this situation appear to be manifold and mainly of anthropogenic origin. However, this
assessment is based on the last extensive consultation about the conservation situation of parrots carried out in
the 1990s. Given the rapid development of anthropogenic threats, updated data are needed to strategize conservation
actions. Using a population approach, we addressed this need through a wide-ranging consultation
involving biologists, wildlife managers, government agencies and non-governmental conservation organizations.
We gathered up-to-date information on threats affecting 192 populations of 96 Neotropical parrot species across
21 countries. Moreover, we investigated associations among current threats and population trends. Many populations
were affected by multiple threats. Agriculture, Capture for the Pet Trade, Logging, each of them affected>
55% of the populations, suggesting a higher degree of risk than previously thought. In contrast to
previous studies at the species level, our study showed that the threat most closely associated with decreasing
population trends is now Capture for the local Pet Trade. Other threats associated with decreasing populations
include Small-holder Farming, Rural Population Pressure, Nest Destruction by Poachers, Agro-industry Grazing,
Small-holder Grazing, and Capture for the international Pet Trade. Conservation actions have been implemented
on< 20% of populations. Our results highlight the importance of a population-level approach in revealing the
extent of threats to wild populations. It is critical to increase the scope of conservation actions to reduce the
capture of wild parrots for pets.

Behavioral plasticity is a strategy employed by many species to cope with both naturally occurring and human-mediated environmental variability. Such plasticity may be especially important for long-lived and wide-ranging species, such as parrots, that likely face great temporal and spatial variation within their long lifespans, and are often disproportionately affected by anthropogenic habitat change. We used radio-telemetry and roost counts to assess ranging patterns, habitat usage, and roosting behaviors of the Yellow-naped Amazon (Amazona auropalliata) at two sites in northern Costa Rica with different degrees of anthropogenic habitat alteration. We compared behaviors for residents at the two sites and for experimentally translocated individuals to test the hypothesis that this species would employ behavioral plasticity in response to habitat differences. We found that individuals in the region with dispersed vegetation recorded ranging movements and communal roosting behavior ten times larger than the region with concentrated vegetation. Translocated individuals showed flexibility in these behaviors and matched the behavioral patterns of resident birds at the release site rather than maintaining behaviors characteristic of their capture site. Our results illustrate a generalized rapid plastic response to human-induced changes in habitat for a number of behavioral traits in the Yellow-naped Amazon. Such plasticity is directly relevant to reintroduction efforts that are commonly employed as a conservation tool in parrots. Our study provides an example of how behavioral plasticity may allow some wild populations to withstand anthropogenic change

Parrots are exceptional among birds for their high levels of exploratory behaviour and manipulatory abilities. It has been argued that foraging method is the prime determinant of a bird's visual field configuration. However, here we argue that the topography of visual fields in parrots is related to their playful dexterity, unique anatomy and particularly the tactile information that is gained through their bill tip organ during object manipulation. We measured the visual fields of Senegal parrots Poicephalus senegalus using the ophthalmoscopic reflex technique and also report some preliminary observations on the bill tip organ in this species. We found that the visual fields of Senegal parrots are unlike those described hitherto in any other bird species, with both a relatively broad frontal binocular field and a near comprehensive field of view around the head. The behavioural implications are discussed and we consider how extractive foraging and object exploration, mediated in part by tactile cues from the bill, has led to the absence of visual coverage of the region below the bill in favour of more comprehensive visual coverage above the head.

Parrot populations are being increasingly pressured to occupy modified or fragmented landscapes, yet little is known of the habitat requirements of most species, particularly with regard to the effects on breeding habitat. We evaluated nesting habitat of the lilac-crowned parrot Amazona finschi in the modified landscape of coastal Michoacan in Mexico. We located 90 parrot nests in 12 tree species in Michoacan, with lilac-crowned parrots presenting a narrow niche-breadth of tree species used for nesting. Considering an additional 82 nest trees recorded for lilac-crowned parrots in Jalisco, we determined a 51 percent similarity in cavity resource use by parrots in the two dry forest regions. Overall, the predominant nest tree species with 76 percent of nests were Astronium graveolens, Piranhea mexicana, Brosimum alicastrum, and Tabebuia spp., all characteristic of semi-deciduous forest. Only 8 percent of nests occurred in trees characteristic of deciduous forest. Parrots utilized large trees with canopy level cavities as nest sites, and preferred conserved semi-deciduous forest for nesting, with fewer nests than expected in deciduous forest and transformed agricultural land. Nest areas in semi-deciduous forest occurred on significantly steeper terrain, as remnant semi-deciduous forest is restricted to steep ridges and canyons. Those parrot nests in modified habitats and forest patches were located near to continuous forest, with nest trees in open agricultural land being significantly closer to continuous forest than nests in disturbed forest patches. These results demonstrate the importance of conserved semi-deciduous forest as breeding habitat for the threatened, endemic lilac-crowned parrot, making wild populations of the species vulnerable to the high rate of transformation and fragmentation of tropical dry forest.

Psittacidae family is one of the most endangered groups in Mexico, since many of their
habitats are disappearing. In this research, we characterized the land cover of the potential geographical distribution
area of eight extant parrot species within the Yucatan Peninsula. We used the Maximum Entropy algorithm
(MaxEnt) and species historical records. To externally validate the models, we used presence and absence
records from field observations (2010-2012). To characterize the distribution area, we used the vegetation and
land use maps of INEGI Series IV (2007-2010). The models showed a good performance, according to the
values of the area under the curve (AUC), which ranged between 0.88-0.95 with the training data and between
0.82-0.91 with test data. We located most of the species in sites where the models predicted their presence. In
the Peninsula, over 76% of the parrots’ potential geographical distribution area is forested, except for Amazona
oratrix. The subhumid tropical forest is the best represented, and the livestock for land use. The most affected
species within the Peninsula are: Amazona farinosa and A. oratrix. The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve is the most
important area for parrots’ protection in the Peninsula. Knowing the characteristics of distribution areas is an
essential part in the establishment of parrots’ conservation strategies.

Psittacines are the most com-mon birds reported in legal and illegal wild-life trade.Wildlife rehabilitators are called upon to assist in the care and appropriate release of diverse parrot species in diverse habitats. The problems and issues related to wild psittacine rehabilitation reflect universal issues in wildlife rehabilitation; however, parrots require specific training and represent a high-visibility, highly emo-tive and charismatic group of birds prone to significant wildlife trafficking. The online platform Survey Monkey was used to reach wildlife rehabilitators around the globe and included responses from the Neo-tropics, African nations, Australasia, India, North America and Europe. The survey was intended to explore the extent of wildlife rehabilitators’ role in wild parrot rescue, rehabilitation, and release, and ultimately to be used to prepare options, guidelines, and plans for psittacine rehabilitation and release to the wild. Out of 237 rehabilita-tion centers contacted, 34 responded. Based on survey results, human impact is the primary cause for presentation of psit-tacines to a rehabilitation facility. Reports of non-traumatic, non-anthropogenic illnesses varied between regions.

With the purpose of contributing to the knowledge and background on the populations of the Yellow-naped Parrot Amazona auropalliata in El Salvador, the results of the population estimated in the period 1992 to 1994 are presented, through the count in roosts of the Barra de Santiago Complex, located in the coastal area of El Salvador. A total of 88 evening counts were conducted, with a total of 132 hours of observation in six locations within the complex. The results indicate a population of 57 individuals in 1992, 88 individuals in 1993 and 112 individuals in 1994, while the annual average was 9.76, 7.67 and 7.27 individuals/roost, respectively. The Guayapa roost presented the maximum number of individuals counted during the entire study period, 46 individuals in 1994, followed by El Cabón with 31 individuals in 1994 and El Zapote with up to 29 individuals in 1993. While El Cajete, El Zanate and Santa Rita were the least abundant in that same period, with 15, 10 and 7 (1993, 1994, 1993) respectively. The birds were more abundant after the reproductive period, a fact associated with the dispersal of the juveniles. These results show an important antecedent for the current understanding of population size, its reduction and sites of importance for the species.

Although plant-inhabiting ants are known to act as effective deterrents to a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores, this has been reported only once before for primates, a group better known for their predation of ants. In the present study, we investigated the effects that colonies of Pseudomyrmex viduus ants living in individual Macrolobium acaciifolium (Fabaceae) trees have on the rates of visitation and fruit removal by four taxa of seed-predating vertebrates: the primate Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary; macaws (Ara spp.); large parrots (Amazona spp.); and the Northern Amazonian red squirrel (Sciurus igniventris). We found that ant presence significantly reduced both rates of visitation and of fruit removal by C. m. ouakary. The same pattern of reduced fruit removal was also observed for other seed predators (parrots, macaws, and squirrels) but not for visitation rates (although this may be a result of the small sample size). This appears to be only the second-known d...

All human societies have music with a rhythmic " beat, " typically produced with percussive instruments such as drums. The set of capacities that allows humans to produce and perceive music appears to be deeply rooted in human biology, but an understanding of its evolutionary origins requires cross-taxa comparisons. We show that drumming by palm cockatoos (Probosciger aterrimus) shares the key rudiments of human instrumental music, including manufacture of a sound tool, performance in a consistent context, regular beat production, repeated components, and individual styles. Over 131 drumming sequences produced by 18 males, the beats occurred at nonrandom, regular intervals, yet individual males differed significantly in the shape parameters describing the distribution of their beat patterns, indicating individual drumming styles. Autocorrelation analyses of the longest drumming sequences further showed that they were highly regular and predictable like human music. These discoveries provide a rare comparative perspective on the evolution of rhythmicity and instrumental music in our own species, and show that a preference for a regular beat can have other origins before being co-opted into group-based music and dance.