The thick-billed parrot (rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) has been the object of collaborative field studies and a variety of reintroduction and recovery efforts for about 40 years

This $434,625 federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Recovery Implementation program (CFDA 15.657) will fund a multi-year effort by the Mexico-based environmental organization Organizacion Vida Silvestre, A.C. to support the conservation and recovery of the endangered thick-billed parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha).

The key activities to be delivered under this grant include: managing nesting areas and installing artificial nests to increase productivity; protecting nest sites from predators, disease, and other threats; intensively managing clutches and supplementing food to boost recruitment; monitoring fledglings and adult birds to track movements and survival; identifying and securing legal/cultural protection for key habitats; implementing long-term land, habitat, and fire management plans; updating the species action plan; and analyzing monitoring data to determine current population size. The grant will also enable the grantee to contribute to conservation science and public outreach through publications and media channels.

Despite a well-designed and persistent project to date the efforts have lacked the scale to assess the level of success of habitat and population conservation measures and effect on the status of this charismatic flagship species and the sample size for scientific purposes. For the first time ever, a team of individuals and organizations, several of which have worked with the species forover 25 years, proposes to simultaneously use a suite of relevant field techniques and methodologies coupled with our proven approach of community-based conservation. We plan to impact a significant number of priority areas and nests over three or five nesting seasons to increase recruitment and population size in the near term and potentially change the species status in the mid-term. We will also be able to draw initial conclusions on a variety of aspects of natural history, ecology, behaviors, migration and nesting success and stressors that require larger sample size for scientific corroboration. Our experienced team will implement the following activities: 1. Manage nesting areas, install artificial nests, and other measures to increase productivity, 2. Protect nest sites against predators, disease and other attrition factors, 3. Intensively manage clutches and supplement food to increase recruitment, 4. Monitor fledglings and adult birds movements and survival, 5. Identify key areas and secure legal and cultural protection, 6. Implement long term land, habitat, and fire management plans in key areas, 7. Update the species action plan (pace) in coordination with relevant stakeholders in the US and mexico and 8. Analyze monitoring data to determine current population size. 9. Contribute to conservation science and public outreach by publishing results in appropriate scientific, popular and social media channels.