The breeding biology of Black-billed Parrot Amazona agilis and Yellow-billed Parrot Amazona collaria in Cockpit Country, Jamaica
| Autor: | Susan E. Koenig |
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| Rok vydání: | 2001 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Bird Conservation International. 11 |
| ISSN: | 1474-0001 0959-2709 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s0959270901000284 |
| Popis: | Summary Black-billed Parrot Amazona agilis and Yellow-billed Parrot A. collaria are endemic to Jamaica and are restricted to remnant patches of mid-elevation wet limestone forest. Cockpit Country is the stronghold of Black-billed Parrot and is the only region where these two species occur sympatrically in significant numbers. In northern Cockpit Country, Black-billed Parrots nested commonly in degraded and regenerating edge habitat, where natural nesting cavities did not appear to be limiting. Yellow-billed Parrot nests were less abundant in the study area. Black-billed Parrots produced clutches of 3 or 4 eggs and incubation was approximately 24 days. Nestling growth and development were characteristically slow and the nestling period prolonged. Nesting success of both species was low for non-excavating, cavity-nesting species, but successful nests were prolific. Black-billed Parrot nestling mortality was highest during the first four weeks of the nestling period, the primary cause being predation, followed by ‘‘dead-in-nest, possible hypothermia’’. Many aspects of Black-billed and Yellow-billed Parrot nesting behaviour may be related to predation. The majority of predation events were attributed to the endemic and Vulnerable yellowboa Epicrates subflavus. Such predator–prey dynamics will challenge Jamaica’s natural resource managers to develop a more comprehensive attitude away from single-species conservation towards multiple species and their interactions in a complex habitat. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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