Next to the Hope Town Lighthouse, the Bahama parrot is probably Abaco’s most recognizable icon.
They’ve been here since the time of Columbus, who, it’s said, marveled that “flocks of parrots concealed the sun.”
For years, they were featured on The Abaconian newspaper’s masthead, and today, visitors are welcomed by a larger-than-life Abaco parrot statue perched proudly in the Marsh Harbour airport roundabout.
But how much do you really know about them? If you’re like me, the answer may surprise you.
I recently spent some time talking with local nature guide Reggie Patterson and discovered there was a lot I didn’t know about these lively and colourful birds.
They’re Actually Cuban Amazons
The Bahama parrot is actually a subspecies of the Cuban Amazon. Featuring green and blue wing feathers, reddish pink faces and throats and white foreheads, the Cuban Amazon is found throughout Cuba, in the Cayman Islands, and in just two places in The Bahamas: Inagua and Abaco.
Like their Cuban Amazon relatives, Abaco’s parrots are striking, loud and playful. They mate for life, forming strong pair bonds that help them defend nesting sites, raise their chicks and navigate the forests together.
And at more than 12 inches long, they’re larger than they appear in photographs. “People always say, ‘They’re bigger than I expected,'” Reggie says.
They Nest Underground
Normally, Cuban Amazons — including those in Inagua — nest in the cavities hollow palms, mangroves and broadleaf trees.
However, as I learned from Reggie, our Abaco parrots nest underground, in natural limestone solution holes, sometimes six to eight feet below the surface!
Scientists believe this unusual behaviour may be connected to the environment in which the Abaco parrots live, particularly the island’s extensive Caribbean pine forests.
Pine forests are more susceptible to fire than, say, broadleaf coppice or mangroves. In fact, fire is vital to the health and survival of our pine forests. These blazes burn away away dead pine needles and leaf litter, recycle nutrients back into the soil, keep the forest floor clear and prevent broadleaf trees from taking over.
Of course, for parrots nesting in trees, fire poses a serious threat to eggs and chicks. And scientists believe this may help explain why Abaco parrots are the only Cuban Amazons that have evolved to nest underground.
Researchers studying Abaco’s parrots discovered that their underground nests provide remarkable protection during low-intensity fires.
During one prescribed burn, for example, temperatures outside the nest briefly exceeded 800°C, yet conditions inside changed very little. At the bottom of the nest, temperatures increased by only 0.4°C, smoke entered only briefly, and air quality quickly returned to normal once the fire had passed.
Why haven’t Inagua’s parrots evolved in the same way? Reggie says that unlike Abaco, there are fewer pine forests in Inagua. That means fewer fires, which may help to explain why those birds continue to nest in trees.
Once On The Brink
Despite their remarkable adaptation, Abaco parrots faced serious challenges during the second half of the twentieth century.
“In the past,” Reggie says, “people hunted and ate parrots as well as other birds.” Many early Abaconians lived a subsistence lifestyle, harvesting from nature whatever they could. “Even if there were grocery stores,” he explains, “they had no money.”
In other cases, people would take chicks from the nests and raise them as pets.
Though historically, Abaco parrots had few natural predators, feral cats and raccoons were eventually introduced into the ecosystem. And the same underground nests that protected eggs and young parrots from fire left them vulnerable to these non-native predators.
By the mid-1980s, studies estimated that as few as 1,500 Bahama parrots remained on Abaco.
Fortunately, during the 1970s, The Bahamas strengthened its Wild Bird Protection Act, making it illegal to capture Bahama parrots, collect their eggs or keep them as pets.
Around the same time, these parrots received the highest level of international protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a global treaty designed to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
And in 1994, the Abaco National Park was established to protect more than 20,000 acres of South Abaco pine forest, including the primary breeding grounds for Abaco parrots.
A Brighter Outlook Today
By the turn of the century, Reggie says the Abaco parrot population had grown to around 4,000. And a 2016 article in the Tribune indicated that the latest research showed a population as high as 8,000.
Though Hurricane Dorian profoundly affected many native species, it spared much of the parrot population.
For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, most Abaco parrots live at the south end of the island, which suffered relatively little damage from the storm.
“There was a small flock of 15 to 20 parrots that we used to see in Marsh Harbour,” Reggie recalls. “They would spend six months here, maybe eating the Christmas palm berries, then head south near mating season in the summer. I haven’t seen that flock since Dorian.”
Where to See Abaco’s Parrots
Though the Abaco National Park protects the parrots’ breeding grounds, Reggie says that isn’t always the easiest place to spot them.
“You’ll hear them,” he says. “But they might be a quarter of a mile away in the forest, so you might not see them.”
Outside of the summer breeding season, Reggie says there’s often a flock of parrots in Bahama Palm Shores. “They’re noisy. Put your windows down and you’ll hear them.”
I came away from my conversation with Reggie with a much greater appreciation for a bird I thought I knew. I hope you’ve learned something new about them, too.
Huge thanks to Reggie for speaking with me, and to Melissa Maura and Paul Harding for these gorgeous images.
If you’d like to see Abaco’s famous parrots and other birds and wildlife, Reggie Patterson offers guided tours from autumn through spring. He may be reached by phone or WhatsApp at (242) 477-5953 or by email at oudi14@hotmail.com.
