Aliya Hosein shares about her recent trip to Saint Vincent to learn more about the endemic St. Vincent Parrot, one of the most beautiful and colorful parrots in the region! 

I recently enjoyed an exciting trip to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I spent nine days on this wonderful, mountainous island; and I can certainly say that St. Vincent Parrots (Amazona guildingii), flying over the lush ridges at Jennings Valley, was the most memorable sight of all.

I spent months preparing for this trip. I carefully planned lodging and flights and made endless calls to my friend Cathlene Trumpet, who is a Forestry Officer with over fifteen years of service to the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Forestry Department. Among the questions I asked her were “Who sells the best burgers and donuts on the island?” and “Where should I go to see the parrots?” Then it was time to leave Trinidad and fly towards my adventure.

Cathlene and I met through the Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean (CLiC) Fellowship Program. For 18 months we worked on an intense, sometimes hilarious, and occasionally scary project on the illegal trade in Blue and Gold Macaws in Trinidad. I remember being in awe as Cathlene related stories about the national campaign to build pride among Vincentians for their endemic parrot. Later, I flipped through my “Parrots of the World” book to find a picture of it.

In the past the St. Vincent Parrot, locally called the Vincie Parrot, was targeted for the local and international pet bird trade because of its beauty and rarity. Although St. Vincent and the Grenadines is made up of over 32 major islands, the St. Vincent Parrot is found only on the mainland of St. Vincent. Poaching and hurricanes, from colonial times to the present day, are still  significant threats to the parrot’s habitat. These pressures have resulted in it being listed as Vulnerableon the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and in Appendix I by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). It is estimated that there are only 850 St. Vincent Parrots in the wild.\

How Gorgeous is the St. Vincent Parrot!

This parrot lives mainly in the upper west and east ridges of the central mountain range, just south of Mount Soufriére and the La soufriére volcano at elevations between 125 to 1,000m. It is a large parrot, certainly larger than the Orange-winged Amazon (Amazona amazonica) I am used to seeing in Trinidad. About 40 cm long, it is mostly bronze-brown, multi-colored with yellowish white, blue and green head, greenish-bronze upperparts. It has grey feet, reddish eye, and violet blue-green wings. Its tail feathers are centrally banded violet-blue with broad yellow tips. Two morphs exist: a yellow-brown morph and a less common green morph. Male and female birds are similar. The parrot feeds on the flowers, nuts, fruits and seeds of many plants such as Ficus, Clusia and Cecropia.

There Is More to Be Learned

Before making the trek up into the moist montane forest to see the parrots, I had the pleasure of meeting the Director of the Forestry Department, Mr. Fitzgerald Providence. Initially I was intimidated by his title and stacks of reports on his desk. But once we settled down in his office, I was relieved to find out that he was delightfully welcoming and eager to tell me about St. Vincent.

We chatted about the island’s biodiversity; about flora and fauna both known and waiting to be discovered. He had noticed that the feeding habits of the parrots were changing. The parrots are now visiting agricultural areas on the island. He attributed this change to the influence of climate change on fruiting patterns of the parrot’s natural food plants. In general, however, he felt that much was still to be known about the St. Vincent Amazon. This parrot was proving to be quite mysterious. I was hooked and more than ever wanted to see them in the wild.

Afterwards we visited the Botanical Garden of Saint Vincent where there is a breeding facility for the parrots. The breeding program was established to provide a safety net for the parrots should there be a sudden decline in the wild parrot population following, for example, a hurricane.

An Early Morning Start

The next morning, Cathlene, Ray – her fellow Forestry Officer – my friend Nandani and I headed to Georgetown in a 4-wheel drive along the winding highway. It was five in the morning and people were already up and moving. The radio was airing an announcement to farmers and a reminder of the soon-to-be closed hunting season. We stopped to pick up Ian, another Forestry Officer, before continuing along the highway.

After about 20 minutes we ventured off into a narrow rugged road leading to Jennings Valley. We arrived at a farmed property with a small cottage. The sun was now beginning to rise and I really did not expect to see or hear any parrots. About 10 minutes into our uphill walk to the look-out point we heard their loud squawks “quaw….quaw…quaw” followed by shrieking “scree-ree- lee.” It was enough to stop us in our tracks. Pairs of parrots were emerging from the ridges north of us. It was still too dark and all we saw were their silhouettes.

As the sun began to rise more parrots began flying out, sometimes directly above us. I was mesmerized by the many colours of the St. Vincent Parrot in the sunlight, against an all-green backdrop. At times it seemed as though the pairs were touching each others’ wings while flying. The largest flock we saw was a group of twelve. They were all squawking, possibly deciding where to go to have breakfast. By now we had reached the look-out; a plateau with mountain views on the northern, western and southern sides and the deep blue Atlantic Ocean on the eastern side.

For about an hour or so we continued to see parrots flying over. Only one pair flew down into a golden apple (Spondias dulcis) tree near the cottage. I could not see what they were doing from my vantage point, but my guess is that they were feeding, because they were very quiet. A flock of three flew over us. Ian suggested it was a family in which the parents, with their stocky bodies and short tails, were leading the way, with their offspring straggling behind. After this sighting there was a lull in activity. The parrots either rested at the top of the trees or disappeared into the trees along the mountain ridges. We waited for about an hour again before leaving.

It really was a remarkable experience seeing the St. Vincent Parrots flying free, with people who truly appreciated their beauty. Nevertheless there is still a lot to learn about these birds’ ecology and their role in the island’s montane forests. Not much is known beyond its population estimate and description of nesting sites. An understanding of its habitat requirements and reproductive biology are critical components of well-developed protective measures to ensure the long-term survival of this incredible bird on the island.

Article by Aliya Hosein, member of BirdsCaribbean’s Media Working Group. Aliya works as the Leader of the Welfare and Wildlife Program at the Centre for the Rescue of Endangered Species of Trinidad and Tobago. She is a biologist and avid conservationist, especially fond of parrots and hummingbirds.