Fact Sheet

Why Maroon Fronted Parrots?

    These parrots look almost identical to thick-billed parrots, and live in the same habitat. By preserving land for the thick-billed parrot, we can also conserve Maroon Fronted Parrots at the same time.

The maroon-fronted is found in the Sierra Madre Oriental near Monterrey and Saltillo. Unlike the thick-billed parrots these birds live in mixed conifer forests at altitudes exceeding 1,500 meters. In this area there are large limestone cliffs where these birds nest. The lack of large pine trees in this area probably resulted in these birds nesting in the holes in the cliffs instead of trees.

    The maroon-fronted parrot lives in large groups. While feeding in smaller groups during the day, they will flock together in the early evenings and roost closely together. Nesting appears to occur from June to August with one pair occupying a nest. All the chicks observed to date have fledged by the beginning of November (Lanning and Shifflet, 1980). Nests have shown to produce one to four chicks. Weaning duration is unknown at this time, but if it is similar to the thick-billed parrot it would take months to be totally weaned. The chick probably stay with the parents until the next nesting season. Diet consists mainly various pine seeds.

    The number of birds has been estimated at 2 thousand (Enkerlin, 1997. Personal communication). These birds were listed Appendix I of CITES in 1973. In the wild the maroon-fronted parrot are in decline partly due to deforestation. Even though these birds do not nest in pine trees, they do feed off these trees. The population of Mexico is causing some of the steeper slopes to be destroyed for housing developments (Snyder, 1992).

    The maroon-fronted parrot has been held in captivity in very small numbers. With the difficulties in just obtaining these birds along with their loud calls and destructive nature, they have never been desirable for the pet trade. There have been only a couple of birds brought into the United States which survived for a short period. Most birds which were sold as maroon-fronted parrots were found, on investigation, to be thick-billed parrots. There is a small group in Mexico housed at the African Safari in Puebla. They have one wild caught pair, 2 unknown pairs and two females. The three pairs have produced 5 offspring since 1999.

    There is currently a study underway to learn general information on this species. The study, lead by Dr. Ernesto Enkerlin, Gabriela Ortiz-Maciel M.S.c. and Claudia Macias-Caballero M.S.c. from Mexico's Monterrey Tech University, will hopefully discover new information on this species. They have already identified most of the nesting colonies and the most important nesting areas for this species.

    In 1995, 300 hectares (740 acres) of pine forest in the state of Coahuila, Mexico were set up into a preserve. This parcel of land contains the largest known nesting colony of maroon-fronted parrots. The  land was acquired with the help from the San Diego Zoological Society, Ducks Unlimited in Mexico and the U.C. Fish & Wildlife Service. The El Taray Sanctuary is secured by CONABIO (Mexico National Commission for Biodiversity). Administrative control for the reserve will be held in the trust by Museo do las Aves de Mexico in Saltillo for the purpose of conservation, research, education and ecotourism.