Author: Cara Giaimo / Source: Atlas Obscura
Six months after Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit Puerto Rico, the archipelago’s communities are still working hard to heal themselves. Students are helping to field-test drinking water. In areas that remain without electricity, people are agitating for its return, and sharing what power they do have.
Meanwhile, in aviaries tucked into the island’s forests, the iguacas are also doing their part: They’re laying eggs.
At about 2 weeks, each baby #iguaca is fitted with an aluminum leg band with a unique ID number. These numbers allow us to identify each bird in the population and keep track of them in all our future records. Here’s a quick clip of the staff attaching a leg band today. pic.twitter.com/ZhfUWMJrE8
— Tanya Martínez (@iguacachick)
Puerto Rico is the only home in the world for the iguaca, a green parrot with a raucous call, blue-tipped wings, and a distinctive red spot above its beak. As we reported in November, Irma and Maria were devastating to the parrots. A large flock that had lived in El Yunque National Forest vanished completely. Another, at Rio Abajo, largely survived, but researchers worried that the environmental devastation would affect the parrots’ ability and desire to mate.
Meanwhile, three government-run aviaries—where scientists raise birds in captivity before releasing them into the island’s forests—lost power, as well as cages, incubators, artificial nests, and other vital equipment.
One facility, at Maricao State…The post Puerto Rico’s Parrot Population Is Slowly Recovering appeared first on FeedBox.