A puertorican parrot displaying to others of its flock.

Sometimes the puertorican parrots will open partially open their wings when they are displaying to other birds.  My guess is that they do so to make themselves look bigger.  This wing opening is often accompanied with bowing, and a side to side motion.  This particular bird was displaying in front of two other birds who were licking the sap that oozed from a broken banana leave.

Late on a clear afternoon of the dry season, a trio Puerto Rican parrots rest on the vegetation. Rio Abajo State forest.

Puertorrican parrot goes bananas about its bathtime

This is a male of the species Amazona vittata vittata, the Puerto Rican parrot.  These birds greatly enjoy getting baths.  In the wild when it rains after a spell of dry weather the parrots become very excited and vocalize powerfully as they get wet under the rain.  In captivity the cages are designed so that the  birds can take baths whenever it rains, however a few will also eagerly seek getting wet under the water we use to clean cages.  From time to time we indulge them and allow them to frolick under the water stream.  As you can see in the video the bird is unabashedly enjoying the water.  These parrots are highly intelligent and we try, as much as it is possible in captivity, to enrich their enviroment with things they like. 

I want to make clear that this animal trusts me a great deal, birds that don't have a trusting relationship with their owners or keepers will not behave this way, some may even feel threatened when their cage is cleaned.  If you want to give your birds a bath like these make sure that the bird doesn't feels threatened, is in a familiar enviroment and that it can get away from the water stream at any time if it chooses to do so.

This particular male has been particularly fecund and a number of his offspring have been released into the wild as part of a program to reintroduce the species to parts of it former habitat where it has beene extinct since the early twenty century.

Amazona vittata, laparoscopic examination of their internal organs to check their state of health

This is a normal ovary of a mature female, the white irregular patch to the left marks the spot where an egg was released

A healthy testicle

A spent fibrous ovary of an old Amazona ventralis, the owner of this ovary is reproductively senecent

A liver with yellow spots of uncertain etiology 

Lymari (USFWS), Jafet Velez (USFWS), Brian Ramos (DRNA)

Dr. Antonio Rivera the veterinarian that conducted the laparoscopic examinations

A bird ready for the procedure, note the laparoscopic probe  which is the wand like apparatus on the doctor;s hand

The view of the body cavity of the parrot on real time on the computer screen

The first sign that bird is coming out of anesthezia is when they open their eyes, as you can see this bird is not amused

A hispaniolan parrot just removed from the anesthezia apparatus

During the course of the year we test our birds for various diseases, give them physical examinations and do a variety of blood tests on the flock.  Also we evaluate carefully each breeding pair performance during the breeding season.  Usually all these things put together give us a pretty good idea of what to expect from our birds and the state of their health.  But in some cases what exactly is the reason for a bird not breeding is not clear from blood examinations and physical tests.  Then we use a laparoscopic apparatus to see into the bird.

The laparoscopic apparatus is an electronic device that allows us to see inside the bird by using a flexible tube that acts as a camera to capture images of the internal organs.  Since the tube is fairly thin the incision needed is small, more like a hole than a cut.  The flexible tube has fiber optics that bring light inside the animal and allows us to see the internal organs live in a computer screen.  At times we have added a tiny probe that can clip diminutive bits of tissues of interest.  This procedure can be done with very little loss of blood by the animal and after it is finished the birds can get back to their cages and normal routine after a few hours of observation.

The birds are anesthetized using isoflourane.  The flow of the anesthetic is carefully metered to insure that the bird has the proper level of anesthesia.  Unfortunately the level of anesthesia needed to put the birds to sleep is not too far from the level that can kill them.  That means that during the whole operation there is one person paying very close attention to the bird vital signs.  In case a bird stops breathing we have ways to rescue it.  Thankfully, because the staff has a fair amount of experience on treating birds we have never lost one to anesthesia.  We anesthetize the birds because the parrots in our flock object in the strongest terms possible to being handled and will happily put one or a dozen vicious bites in the hand that feeds them.  Our parrots are familiar with medical tests and abhor them wholeheartedly.

Once the bird is safely anesthetized an area on its left side is cleaned and a cut of about one centimeter is made on the skin and muscles.  Through this cut a hole is made into the body cavity and the laparoscopic apparatus is threaded into the body.  Usually the lungs, heart, liver, kidney and gonads are checked for appearance and everything is described, if any abnormality is noted a photo is taken.  Relevant aspects of the bird life history are discussed before each individual laparoscopic examination.   The doctor checks the organs and makes his evaluation and recommendations.  The probe is extracted and the cut sutured.

After the operation the birds are carefully monitored to see that they recuperate successfully from anesthesia.  We all can remember what happened to Michael Jackson because his doctor put him under deep anesthesia and then left him all alone to do some errands.  The birds recuperate fairly quickly from the anesthesia and after they open their eyes and stand on their feet we can confidently say that they won’t unexpectedly croak on us.

I want to thank the USFWS for lending us the laparoscopy machine and for the help of their skilled personnel to give support to Dr, Rivera during the procedure.  I want to thank Jafet Velez (USFWS), Lymari (USFWS), Brian Ramos DRNA) and Dr. Antonio Rivera.

Puerto Rican parrot twilight behavior, sleeping clumped in a bunch.

This is the only photo of this behavior ever taken, you can see a parrot ready to fly away at the bottom

As the leader of the captive propagation program of the Puerto Rican parrot I spend time, probably than anyone on its right mind should, observing parrot behavior. I also read the notes of previous aviculturists about the parrot’s behavior in captivity to look for context for my observations. But there is a gap in the information about this parrot’s behavior, there’s an absolute absence of writings on what the parrots do after dark. In fact most people seem to assume that as soon as night falls the parrots go to sleep and that’s that. To say the truth this inference is largely true, however in the period of twilight before complete darkness the parrots do things that have been missed, as far as I can tell, by other observers.


The reason for missing these behaviors is very simple, after the daily work shift ends the personnel goes to their houses, to do errands, to take a nap, to eat, and hanging around the parrot cages is the last thing in (including me) anyone’s mind. But one day I noted that the period of twilight was marked by an inordinate amount of calls coming from a relatively small area in the cage, the calls denoted intense socialization at a time that I had always assumed the birds were setting down to sleep. This piqued my curiosity and I decided to see what was happening.

What I found is that sometimes, instead of sitting on the many perches on the cage, the parrots will cluster together to sleep in the wire forming a mass that resembles a grape bunch. I have never read this reported, and it doesn’t seem like they sleep in this way in the wild. The birds arrange themselves in a very tight bunch, literally side by side in a degree of intimate contact that I would have thought inconceivable between adult parrots that are not pair bonded. The forming of the bunch is accompanied by much squawking and I suspect this is caused by birds jostling each other for position on the bunch. I have never set out to watch the formation of the bunch since this would probably disrupt its formation but I have on rare occasions witnessed its dissolution. Also most of our flight cages have, by design but this is a matter for another post, odd asymmetrical shapes that limit line-of –sight viewing.  What I found most interesting about this clumping behavior is that the PR parrots, which can be quite picky with who they associate during the day, seem to lose their selectivity as night falls and join together in relative amicability and closeness that they don't show during the day.

I suspect the birds clump as a form of protection from predators. I make this inference because of what happens when the clump is disturbed. When the birds are startled the clump explodes like a grenade with birds flying in all directions. I have just a single photo of this clumping, it was taken when I had to feed the flock very early before dawn because we were doing some special work with the wild birds and I wanted the captive birds to be all fed by first light in the morning. In the photo you can see only part of the clump as a number of the birds had flown away the moment they detected movement near the cage. Nevertheless the photo shows the way the birds arrange themselves on the wire. Previously I always thought that only mated pairs slept this way.

It is unclear what triggers this behavior as some birds are quite content to sleep in perches.  For the moment being this behavior remains a curiosity observed from time to time.

Information about the Puerto Rican Parrot in the Vivaldi (Rio Abajo) aviary

One of the bird of thr Rio Abajo Forest wild flock, raised in captivy.  You can see the antena and the radio transmiter that allow us  to keep track of them

Agency – Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

Bureau of Fish and Wildlife
Division of Wildlife
Endangered Species Section
Project – Program for the propagation in captivity and release into the wild the Puerto Rican parrot
Email address – el.cotorro.electrico@gmail.com, illerandi@drna.gobierno.pr
Project leaders – Ricardo Valentín, Ivan Llerandi
Biologists and Technicians – Brian Ramos, Jong Piel Banch Plaza, Tomás Medina, Eddie Velez, Milagros Cartagena, Gustavo Olivieri, Alberto Alvarez
Location – Rio Abajo State Forest
Jurisdiction – Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Residents – The Vivaldi aviary has 3 permanent residents that assure that there is always someone watching
the aviary and a number of workers that stay overnight when there is the need.

Visits – The Vivaldi aviary is not open to the public
Protected Species – Amazona vittata – the Puerto Rican Parrot

The Aviary also has some pairs of the Hispaniolan Parrot (Amazona ventralis). These pairs are used as foster parents for Puerto Rican parrot chicks when necessary.


Wild Population Estimate – From 30 to 40 individuals in the Rio Abajo Forest, 20-30 in the Caribbean National Forest.

Location of Wild Population – Restricted to the Caribbean National Forest, El Yunque and to the Rio Abajo forest.
Total Population, including parrots in captivity – A total of 269 in captivity, 60 to 70 in the wild.

Captive Groups of the Puerto Rican Parrot

Iguaca Aviary – 133
Agency – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Rio Abajo Aviary – 136 birds
Agency - Department of Natural and Enviromental Resources of Puerto Rico

Wild populations of the Puerto Rican parrot

El Yunque, Caribbean National Forest – 20 – 30
This is the original population that survived the near extinction event

Rio Abajo Forest population 30-40
This is a new population which was started with birds released from captivity. Rio Abajo used to be a stronghold of the PR.

A Short History of the Vivaldi (Rio Abajo) Aviary

Starting date – In 1989 30 Hispaniolan parrots were transferred from the Luquillo aviary to the Rio Abajo aviary to serve as sentinels to detect the presence of infections diseases, to put operational logistics to test, and to evaluate the capacity of the technical staff.

Chronology of Important Events for the Vivaldi Aviary at Rio Abajo Forest

1993 – first group of Puerto Rican parrots transferred from the Luquillo aviary
1994 – first breeding season in Rio Abajo; 2 Puerto Rican (PR) parrot fledglings produced
1995 – second group of 13 Puerto Rican parrots transferred from the Luquillo aviary, 10 PR fledglings produced
1996 – third season; 10 PR fledglings produced
1997 – fourth season; 5 PR fledglings produced
1998 – fifth season; 10 PR fledglings produced
1999 – sixth season; 13 PR fledglings produced
2000 – seventh season; 16 PR fledglings produced; 1 chick received from Luquillo, 9 parrots sent to Luquillo for the release project in El Yunque
2001 – eighth season; 17 PR fledglings produced (3 died after fledging); 3 chicks received from Luquillo; 10
parrots sent to Luquillo for release.
2002 – ninth season; 16 PR fledglings produced
2003 – tenth season; 11 PR fledglings produced
2004 – 11 PR fledglings produced
2005 – 12 chicks
2006 – The best year ever in the Vivaldi aviary until that date, a staggering 29 fledglings are produced in a single season.
2007 - 31 fledglings produced at the aviary
2008 – 30 fledgelings
2009 - 30 fledglings
2010 - 33 fledglings

Total production so far – 271 Puerto Rican fledglings

Captive management Philosophy:


The Rio Abajo aviary is a captive breeding facility that is not open to the public. The principal purpose of the aviary is to be a bank of genetic material representative of the species to provide parrots for future reintroductions into the wild. The facility is equipped with everything necessary to perform many procedures without having to remove the birds from the property. We use a management method that is minimally invasive to the birds’ territories, which are composed of different areas of breeding cages. We use large sized flight cages, of 60 feet in length and 14 feet in height, to socialize the young parrots and so that they can form pairs in a free and natural manner so as to produce pairs of the best quality. We try to maintain an environment that is positively stimulating to the majority of the reproductive pairs and results in less stress.

In the Rio Abajo aviary we have a deep respect for the Puerto Rican parrot as an animal with a large cognitive capacity that needs to be provided not just with the basic necessities of food and water, but also of an environment adequate for exercising the full realm of behavior that they possess. To be able to fill their mental needs we provide spacious cages, fruit, branches, leaves, and toys made of wood, coconut, and rope.  The adult breeding cages are separated from one another by barriers of vegetation and dark screen. We severely limit the access of humans in the areas of breeding cages. We try to reduce to as little as possible the amount of contact the parrots have with humans to avoid the parrots’ becoming accustomed to human contact.  We carefully study the behavior of the young adults and reproductive pairs to look for what might help us to stimulate reproduction in captivity.  We maintain a complete database of our activities with the parrots to be able to evaluate the results of our actions.  We use the Hispaniolan parrot, Amazona ventralis, as foster parents to incubate eggs and raise PR parrot chicks. The eggs and chicks of the Hispaniolan parrots are used to provide practical experience to PR parrot pairs that are new and inexperienced in incubating eggs and rearing chicks

A male in the wild

Puerto Rican parrot, Amazona vittata, a smile of hope

One of the ten most endangered species of parrot in the world, the PR parrot is the focus of an intense effort to restore its populations. A formerly extremely abundant bird whose population was counted in the hundred of thousands if not in millions, it s wild population suffered a catastrophic decline and dwindled to 13 in the 1970's due to habitat loss and other causes. Now there are about 280 individuals and two wild populations, including a new one in the Karst region of Puerto Rico that has about twenty birds. I post this photo to invite you to think of all the species that are in jeopardy due to habitat destruction and unwise resource exploitation. Some of endangered species are superbly adapted to their enviroment but have great trouble dealing with highly unnatural pressures such as being captured for the pet market (one of the reasons for the decline of the PR parrot). I have dedicated my life to save these extraordinary creatures which are profoundly emotive, very independent and a true nightmare to breed in captivity.

There are various posts in this blog about dufferent aspects of the life and biology of Amazona vittata both in captivity and in the wild.

Para informacion en Espanol con respecto a la reproduccion en cautiverio de esta cotorra en el Aviario de Rio Abajo, puede buscar en:bc.inter.edu/focus/a4_n2/valentin_delarosa.pdf