Puerto Rican Parrot

As its name indicates, the Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata), the only native parrot remaining in the United States, is endemic to the island of Puerto Rico.

Early European colonization led to a great increase in the island’s human population, causing severe impacts on the native ecosystem. Widespread deforestation, the shooting of parrots, and the taking of wild nestlings for household pets reduced the parrot’s population to 70 individuals by 1967, when the Fish and Wildlife Service listed it as endangered.

Working with the Caribbean National Forest, the Rio Abajo Commonwealth Forest, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, university researchers, and others, the Service is breeding parrots in captivity to provide birds for reintroduction into the wild and to serve as a hedge against loss of the wild population to a single catastrophic event, such as disease or a hurricane.