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| Common Name: | Thick-billed parrot | Family: | Psittacidae |
| Latin Name: | Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha | Diet: | Herbivore |
| Type: | Bird | Habitat: | Woodlands |
| Native To: | North America | Social Unit: | Group |
| IUCN Red List Status: | Endangered |
Thick-billed parrots at Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo holds one of the largest groups of thick-billed parrots in Europe. Thick-billed parrots have been in the collection for many years and we have successfully bred them on numerous occasions. This is an important bird species in our collection as Edinburgh Zoo holds the European Studbook (ESB), providing advice and assisting to manage the population in European zoos.
This species is gregarious and lives in large flocks. At Edinburgh Zoo, all the thick-billed parrots live together in a breeding colony. They are active and extremely vocal birds.
At the Zoo these parrots are fed a variety of food items, including fruit and vegetables, greens, mixed pulses and seeds and nuts. Pine nuts figure quite heavily in the diet of these birds at the Zoo. In the wild, these birds feed almost exclusively on pine nuts.
Where it can be found at Edinburgh Zoo
Our thick-billed parrots can be found in their aviary, which they share with the ocellated turkeys, just to the west of the Monkey House.
Thick-billed parrots in the wild
The thick-billed parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) lives in temperate conifer, pine, mature pine-oak and fir forests. For the most part, it is restricted to the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico, although it used to live in the southwestern United States.
These parrots like to nest in tree cavities, especially old woodpecker holes. They principally feed on seed from various pine species, so much so their lives revolve around cone production. Flocks of these parrots roost by cliffs and they breed at the peak of pine seed production.
Habitat destruction and illegal bird trading gives the thick-billed parrot its Endangered status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, meaning that this species is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
It is estimated that only 1,000-4,000 thick-billed parrots exist in the wild. However, this last living parrot species native to the United States is the focus of coordinated breeding programmes in zoos in Europe and the US along with conservation efforts in the wild.
Breeding programme category: ESB
IUCN Red List category: Endangered
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