Family/Sub-family Psittacidae

Species name author (Linnaeus, 1758)

Taxonomic source(s) AOU checklist (1998 + supplements), Brooks (2000), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)

Summary Conuropsis carolinensis was endemic to the eastern USA, with the nominate race ranging from Florida to Virginia, and ludovicianus, through the Mississippi-Missouri drainage¹. Birds were still common at the beginning of the 19th century but, in 1832, Audubon noted their decline, which followed increasing human settlement moving inland from the east⁵. The last specimens were collected by Chapman near Lake Okeechobee, Florida, in 1904⁴ (although rumours of its survival persisted into the 1930s⁴). The last captive bird died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918².

Ecology: Birds were wide-ranging but their typical habitat was cypress and sycamore trees along rivers and swamps⁵.

Threats The main causes of the species's extinction were persecution (for food, crop protection, aviculture and the millinery trade), and deforestation (especially of the bottomlands), probably compounded by its gregariousness⁵, and by competition with introduced bees³.

References 1. Forshaw and Cooper (1989). 2. Joines (1985). 3. McKinley (1960). 4. McKinley (1985). 5. Saikku (1991).

Text account compilers Tom Brooks (Conservation International), Simon Mahood (BirdLife International)

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Tom Brooks (Conservation International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Alison Stattersfield (BirdLife International)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Conuropsis carolinensis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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