Costa Rica is known internationally as a leader in nature conservation. The finding that Yellow - naped Amazons are declining so rapidly due to poaching in Costa Rica is surprising, especially given the other conservation successes in the country. The rapid re- covery and spread of Scarlet Macaws (Fish and Wildlife Service 2019) where they were previously heavily poached suggests that there is potential to reverse the decline of large psittacines. Fortunately, Yellow - naped Amazons are capable of surviving in highly modified landscapes and communal roosts are often located within 100 m of human habitations (Wright et al. 2019, Dupin et al. 2020). As a result, if the conservation community can bring poaching under control, there is great potential for the Yellow
- naped Amazon to recover. A Critically Endangered listing is only one step be- fore extinction, which makes conservation actions to protect this species of the utmost priority. For this reason, we here in the Brightsmith lab at Texas A&M University are making plans to work with other scientists, wildlife rehabilitators, and conser- vationists to determine how to best help the dwin- dling numbers of Yellow - naped Amazons. For gen- erations, Yellow - naped Amazons have been an em- blematic sight and sound of the dry tropical forests throughout Central America. Now is the time for us to determine if they will continue to play this role for future generations.
Yellow - naped Amazon range
Editor ’ s Note: The Wild Bird Conservation Act (WBCA) was signed into law on October 23, 1992 . The WBCA limits or prohibits imports of ex- otic bird species to the US to ensure that their wild populations are not harmed by trade. It also encourages wild bird conserva- tion programs in countries of origin by ensuring that all imports of such species into the United States are biologically sustaina- ble and not detrimental to the survival of the species. Most parrots currently available in the pet trade in the United States have been hatched domestically. Literature Cited BirdLife International. 2021. Species factsheet: Amazona auropalliata Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 16/12/2021. Dahlin, C. R., C. Blake, J. Rising, and T. F. Wright. 2018. Long ‐ term monitoring of Yellow ‐ naped Amazons (Amazona auropalliata) in Costa Rica: breeding biology, duetting, and the negative impact of poaching. Journal of Field Ornithology 89 :1 - 10. Dupin, M. K., C. R. Dahlin, and T. F. Wright. 2020. Range - Wide Population Assessment of the Endangered Yellow - Naped Amazon (Amazona auropalliata). Diversity 12 :377. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2019. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing the Scarlet Macaw. Federal Register 84 :6278 - 6311. Wright, T. F., T. C. Lewis, M. Lezama - LÓPez, G. Smith - Vidaurre, and C. R. Dahlin. 2019. Yellow - naped Amazon Amazona auropalliata pop- ulations are markedly low and rapidly declining in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Bird Conservation International 29 :291 - 307.
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