Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Yellow-billed Parrot
Imagine yourself in a cool early morning in Jamaica’s remote Cockpit Country. As the sun rises and the mist gradually clears from the forested hills and valleys, the flights of parrots begin. You can hear them coming from hundreds of metres away. Flocks of these bright green marvels leave the safety of their remote roosts and their nests in cavities of large trees in search of food. In the forests and agricultural lands, they feast on fruit and seeds, sometimes to the despair of farmers.
There are two species of parrots in Jamaica: Yellow-billed and Black-billed Parrots. The Yellow-bills have light-coloured bills, bluish foreheads, pink cheeks and throats. The Black-bills have dark bills and green faces with a dark spot behind their eyes. Yellow-bills are slightly larger and possibly more abundant than Black-bills. In flight, their wing beats are deeper. Both can be seen in Cockpit Country and the Blue and John Crow Mountains, and there is a population of Yellow-billed Parrots in the Hope Botanical Gardens in Kingston. Both species are threatened by habitat loss and illegal trapping and trade.
Their voices provide further clues to identification. Yellow-bills have mid-range voices, while Black-bills’ voices range both higher and lower. Parrots can be very noisy but sometimes they can be perched above your head, totally silent and undetectable in the green leaves – until they explode into flight with loud squawks.
What are they saying to each other as they fly? Are those squawks and squeaks just random babblings or do they have meaning? Scientists who have studied parrots elsewhere have found that some species of parrots can recognize each other by call and communicate when they have found a good place to feed. Can Jamaican parrots share the location of a fig tree in fruit or juicy flower buds? No one has studied their calls, so we cannot say for sure that this is the case, but it seems likely.
Maybe one day we will be able to understand the Yellow-billed Parrot calls. In the meantime, we can observe the beauty of their flight and wonder at the variety of the sounds they make. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Yellow-billed Parrot!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the call of the Yellow-billed Parrot
Yellow-billed Parrots emit a variety of screeches and squawks, mostly low-pitched squawks when perched.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Create your own bird colouring page for your favourite bird! Or draw an imaginary bird! And don’t forget add your “Feathery Facts.” Share with us by tagging us @BirdsCaribbean. Have fun!
Check out the wonderful video of two Yellow-billed Parrots calling and interacting in Jamaica!
