Green Parakeet

The species occurs from southern Texas and northern Mexico (including P. h. brevipes on Socorro Island) south through the Middle American isthmus to southwestern Nicaragua. It inhabits a variety of woody habitats. Since the Carolina parakeet's extinction and the thick-billed parrot's extirpation from the United States in the 1930's, the green parakeet remains the only confirmed native extant parrot species in the U.S. (another parrot species, the red-crowned amazon is considered by some authorities to be native to the Rio Grande Valley, but its ecological status is still debated). In western Nicaragua, their nesting sites lie within the El Chocoyero - El Brujo Protected Area, but the birds still face threats from the outside world when they leave the reserve to feed. The A. brevipes subspecies is highly threatened by habitat loss due to feral sheep and predation by feral cats. Surveys from 2006 and 2007 estimated a population around 300 individuals, suggesting a population decline from previous population estimates. The native status of populations in southern Texas is unclear, with some claiming them to be feral escapees. However, the groups in the Rio Grande Valley are now generally regarded as naturally occurring and native, because of the proximity of confirmed native populations, the deforestation of Tamaulipas which forced them to disperse, and earlier evidence from 1911 of these parakeets consuming a strawberry harvest at Combs.