We are well into the nesting season with all active nests now at the chick stage. Unfortunately we have had quite a few nests predated and even worse, the females in all but one of these nests have been killed. Last year we managed to keep predation under control but looks like we are just not having the same impact this year.

On a lighter note, we have started banding chicks and adults this year. Starting off well. We are going to be using the banded birds to determine if it is the same pair reusing nesting cavities each year. Do the pairs include the same male and female and at what age to chicks start breeding successfully.

Here is an update for our Adopt-A-Parrot Nest sponsors.

BPA0922 Sponsor: Amazona Society (UK)
This nest has continued to do well with two chicks. Until the end of June, the female was still in the nest with the chicks. At that point we were not sure how many chicks there actually were but knew at least one was growing well. These parrot moms are quite attentive towards their chicks when young. She tried to tuck the little guy under her when she saw I was there looking in the nest. The two chicks are now starting to get pin feathers on their wings and looking really good. I was able to band the two chicks last week. At some point we will see if we can catch the adults as well.

BPA0305 Sponsor: Amazona Society (US)
The mother was still in the nest with the chicks until the first week in July. Last week when I checked on them I found two little chickies starring up at me. They are still quite young, pink and barely have their eyes open. ZNS, the Bahamas new network, took some video footage of these chicks. They are going to be famous! Banding will probably occur next week.

BPA1002 Sponsor: Mark Hagen
This nest was newly discovered this year so I don’t know the history on its use. This nest is a deep cavity (approx 5.5 ft deep) with a small overhang at the bottom where the mother used to partially hide and the chicks now use as shelter as well. The nest was first found on June 7th while the female was incubating four eggs. Two of the four eggs hatched we are now monitoring the progress of these two chicks. I was able to capture one of the chicks in this nest for banding and crop sampling. This chick now has a unique color band combination, which will allow us to recognize him/her in the future. We will attempt to catch and band the adults later this week so we can track their reuse of this nest.