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Friends of the Environment Abaco, Bahamas | ||||||
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Bahama Parrot Research | ||
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The Abaco Bahama Amazon (A. leucocephala bahamensis) is a subspecies of the Cuban Amazon. They have dark green feathers, a white crown and upper cheeks, rose red throat, red shoulders and outer wing feathers tinge blue. Their legs are pink and a beak-horn. | |||||||||||
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The Bahama Amazon once lived in Abaco, New Providence, San Salvador, Long Island, Crooked Island, Acklins and Great Inagua. Sited as early as 1492 by Christopher Columbus when he landed in the New World. Today, these parrots are rare and exist only in Abaco and Great Inagua. This decline in the population is due to habitat loss, hunting and capture for pets. | |||||||||||
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Today, the Bahama Parrot is protected by The Bahamian Wild Bird Protection Act of 1952 and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). | |||||||||||
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In 1994, the Bahamian Government set aside 20,000 acres in south Abaco called The Abaco National Park to help preserve the Abaco Parrot population. Long-term conservation is needed to preserve the race. An extensive study done is the early 1990’s by Rosemarie Gnam offered a multi-faceted approach to address the threats to the parrots as well as implementing their recovery. Since Ms. Gnam’s study, there have been a series of three Bahama Parrot studies called Status in the Wild by Caroline Stahala and other scientists from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department and the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of North Carolina. The Parrots and People Project was also recently conducted by Susan Jacobson, professor of Environmental Education at the University of Florida in partnership with the Bahamas National Trust. Each of these studies have concluded the same thing –
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 | By Mark L. Stafford December 2004 | |||||||||||
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Conserving the Bahama Parrot - Plan for Survival From text by: Rosemarie Gnam, Assn. for Parrot Conservation | ||||||||
The Demography and Conservation of the Bahama Parrot on Great Abaco Island, Bahamas Thesis by Caroline Stahala | ||||||||
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