Several Amazon parrot species live in the Yucatan, including yellow-lored and white-fronted. As is true with other Amazons, they are predominantly green with accent colors (blue, white, yellow, red) and medium size (like a big pigeon). None of the other Amazons anywhere calls like a hawk, though. Gómez Garza speculated that this might give them a foraging advantage. Other birds might stay away thinking a hawk was present.
He realized he’d found something new that required documention, but how? The official procedure when a potentially new species is discovered is to collect samples. This means kill some of them for further study and to submit as reference specimens. The deposition of voucher specimens to a natural history museum or other collection traditionally is part of describing and naming a new species.
Because Gómez Garza estimated there were only a hundred individuals, he instead obtained permission from Mexican officials and captured two birds, a male and a female because they are sexually dimorphic, and released them into an aviary at his home for more study. With help from two other parrot specialists, he measured the captive birds and collected feather and blood samples.
Tests on the parrot DNA described in the journal PeerJ show that the new species evolved from the white-fronted parrots (Amazona albifrons) that were native to the region about 120,000 years ago. Given their rarity, the tests were performed without harming the parrots.
“I believe this is the first time in recent history that a scientific description has been done without having to terminate its life,” Gómez Garza said. He added that plans are already being drawn up to protect the species.
The researchers named the new species blue-winged Amazon parrot, Amazona gomezgarzai, to honour the discoverer. But some parrot experts aren’t yet convinced this is a separate species. It all hinges on the genetic trait variations and if they are robust and distinctive enough to distinguish the bird from it’s nearest relative, the white-fronted Amazon. The parrot’s call, energetic behavior, and physical appearance are clearly different from the closely-related, more sedate (for a parrot) white-fronted Amazon. The graphic below shows the blue-winged Amazon’s head traits compared with the white-fronted and yellow-lored Amazons who share the same territory.
As is true for many other species, Amazon parrots are losing habitat and suffering population declines. All Amazon parrots live in Latin America or the Caribbean. Of the 39 species of Amazon parrots recognized by the IUCN, only 7 are not listed with some level of threat. Two are extinct, one is Critically Endangered, eight are Endangered, and 18 others are either Vulnerable or Near Threatened.
Eight of the 37 extant Amazon parrot species live in Mexico, and of these, two are found only in Mexico. This makes the blue-winged parrot the ninth species and third endemic Amazon in Mexico. The blue-wings are found only in a roughly 100 kilometer square area centered south of Becanchén in Tekax Municipality, Yucatán that is entirely unprotected. To keep the birds safe from poaching or other harm, the specific location is not released.
Discovering an undescribed Amazon species is wondrous. Documenting and publishing it as a new species without killing any for voucher specimens sets a new standard for holotype (the single type specimen used to base the description and species name) and paratype (another specimen that helps define the species). Instead of dead parrots, the vouchers are based on living birds (sadly now captive) and feather samples deposited in an official collection. Gómez Garza and other study authors say that the population is too small and it wouldn’t be ethical to capture any more individuals.
Whatever the ultimate taxonomic consensus — new species or not — the brightly colored, lively, hawk-voiced parrots won’t be sacrificed to science. As with most parrot species, the important task now is to ensure their habitat isn’t further sacrificed to human activities.
”This is, without a doubt, proof that we still live in a time of ornithological discoveries. We just have to keep … our eyes wide open.” says Gómez Garza.