Thick Billed Parrot Background and Recovery

Meet the Thick-Billed Parrot

Unlike most parrots, thick-bills occupy high altitude temperate forests, often roosting in the snow zone in winter, and sometimes eating snow as a water source. They have an extremely specialized diet of pine seeds, supplemented at times with acorns and conifer buds.  Some populations migrate long distances annually, and almost all thick-billed parrots migrate at least sporadically to find their preferred foods.  On long flights they fly in formation like geese, and their loud calls sound like people laughing.  Like Mexican wolves, jaguars and pygmy owls, thick-billed parrots belong in the Southwest.

The thick-billed parrot is endangered throughout its range in Mexico, and has been completely lost in the Southwestern United States. The first priority in its conservation is to protect the remaining birds and their habitats in Mexico, and then to attempt to extend its range through careful translocations in Mexico and the United States.

Past efforts in Arizona

An experimental reintroduction program for thick-billed parrots took place in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona from 1986 through 1993.  The project used a mix of confiscated birds (birds that were confiscated by the Fish and Wildlife Service after being smuggled into this country) and captive-bred birds.  Although no permanent population was established, and the released parrots suffered some predation by hawks and years of lean food supplies, there were many successes – the birds formed flocks, found food, migrated, and reproduced in the wild.  Most importantly, the project demonstrated that wild-caught, translocated thick-billed parrots have good potential to re-establish the species in Arizona, and in unoccupied areas in Mexico.

Current Status

There are only 2,000 -3,000 thick billed parrots remaining in the wild. The future of thick-billed parrots in the US depends upon their fate in Mexico. The species needs intact forests.  Large scale logging in the Sierra Madre Occidental is rapidly converting old-growth forests into acres and acres of uniform, immature pines.  These may provide some food but are not usable as nests, and suitable breeding sites are fewer each year.