Justification
This species is listed as Vulnerable because clearance and fragmentation of forest at middle elevations, mainly in the Central Mountains and Tilarán Mountains of Costa Rica, are likely to be causing significant declines in its small range and (presumably) population.
Taxonomic source(s)
AOU. 1998. Check-list of North American birds. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
Sibley, C. G.; Monroe, B. L. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.
Stotz, D. F.; Fitzpatrick, J. W.; Parker, T. A.; Moskovits, D. K. 1996. Neotropical birds: ecology and conservation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Identification
17.5 cm. Bright green parrot with bright red forehead to mid-crown, lores and area below eye. Bronze tinge to nape. Yellowish throat. Red leading edge of wing and wing-coverts. Dusky flight feathers edged green. Paler green below. Green, square tail edged yellow on outer rectrices and narrow black apical band. Red restricted in female. Voice Harsh and high-pitched tuiiit calls.
Distribution and populationTouit costaricensis occurs on the Caribbean slope and locally on upper Pacific slopes of
Costa Rica and west
Panama (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989)
. It is known from middle to high elevations in the Tilarán, Central Volcanic and Talamanca Mountain ranges in Costa Rica and south to Santa Clara, above Boquete, Cocoplum, Isla Popa and from both slopes in the Fortuna area, Panama (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989, G. R. Angehr
in litt. 1998)
. There are few records from south-eastern lowlands in Costa Rica or Panama, but it occurs continuously along the Cordillera de Talamanca (mainly on the Caribbean slope) (Stiles and Skutch 1989)
. In Panama, there is an outlying sight record from El Copé, Coclé, in 1986 (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989)
. It is evidently uncommon and local, but perhaps somewhat overlooked, especially in the poorly known south of its range (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989)
. The breeding population in the Important Bird Areas of Costa Rica is estimated at 1,000-4,000 mature individuals (J. Criado
in litt. 2007, J. Sanchez
et al. in litt. 2007)
.
Population justificationThe breeding population in the Important Bird Areas of Costa Rica is estimated at 1,000-4,000 mature individuals (J. Craido
et al. in litt. 2007, J. Sanchez
et al. in litt. 2007), thus the total population is expected to fall within the range 2,500-9,999 mature individuals. This equates to 3,750-14,999 individuals in total, rounded here to 3,500-15,000 individuals.
Trend justificationThe species's population is suspected to be declining at a moderate rate, in line with the continued clearance of its forest habitat in the northern part of its range.
EcologyIt probably breeds in the dry season in very wet montane forest at elevations of 700-1500 m (J. Sanchez
et al. in litt. 2007)
. The species is a daily altitudinal migrant (J. Criado
in litt. 2007)
. Outside the breeding season it is also recorded in highlands up to 3,000 m (Stiles and Skutch 1989)
. It may occasionally occur in lowland humid forest at 200-500 m and rarely to sea-level especially in south-eastern Costa Rica (Stiles and Skutch 1989)
. It is occasionally found in patchy secondary growth, and feeds on fruits from trees and epiphytes, including melastomes, ericads such as
Cavendishia, and
Clusia (Stiles and Skutch 1989)
.
ThreatsThe level of habitat fragmentation in the species's range is judged to be moderate (J. Criado
in litt. 2007)
. The widespread destruction of its foothill and highland forests is primarily the result of burning, small-scale logging operations and other conversion for intensive agricultural use (Dinerstein
et al. 1995, G. R. Angehr
in litt. 2007, J. Sanchez
et al. in litt. 2007)
. In Panama, deforestation is also taking place for urban and tourism development in highlands (G. R. Angehr
in litt. 2007)
. Virtually all remaining highland forest in Costa Rica is confined to existing protected areas (Stiles and Skutch 1989)
. This species does not depend on lowland forests (J. Criado
in litt. 2007)
, but widespread forest clearance in south-eastern Costa Rica is likely to be affecting this species in the wet season (F. G. Stiles
in litt. 1999)
. There are no reports of captive birds and it is apparently not traded (Collar 1997a)
.
Conservation actions underwayCITES Appendix II. It occurs in several protected areas, notably Braulio Carrillo, Tapantí-Cerro de la Muerte National Parks and Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Costa Rica, and La Amistad International Park and adjacent reserves in both countries. However, legal protection of Palo Seco Protection Forest (a large reserve in Panama adjacent to La Amistad) has not prevented clearance for agriculture (Angehr and Jordán 1998)
.
Conservation actions proposedEvaluate the importance of habitats outside breeding season (J. Criado
in litt. 2007, J. Sanchez
et al. in litt. 2007)
. Conduct surveys to determine its total population size. Study the species's ecology (J. Sanchez
et al. in litt. 2007)
. Monitor population trends through regular surveys. Monitor rates of forest loss and recovery (J. Sanchez
et al. in litt. 2007)
. Effectively protect Palo Seco Protection Forest.
References
Stiles, F. G.; Skutch, A. F. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
Ridgely, R. S.; Gwynne, J. A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Panama with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
IUCN. 1992. Protected areas of the world: a review of national systems. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, U.K.
Dinerstein, E.; Olson, D. M.; Graham, D. J.; Webster, A. L.; Primm, S. A.; Bookbinder, M. P.; Ledec, G. 1995. A conservation assesssment of the terrestrial ecoregions of Latin America and the Caribbean. World Bank, Washington, D.C.
Collar, N. J. 1997. Psittacidae (Parrots). In: del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (ed.), Handbook of the birds of the world, pp. 280-477. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
Angehr, G. R.; Jordan, O. 1998. Report on the Panama Important Bird Areas program. Panama Audubon Society/BirdLife International, Ancon, Panamá.
Further web sources of information
View photos and videos, and hear sounds of this species from the Internet Bird Collection
Text account compilers
Benstead, P., Capper, D., Sharpe, C J, Stuart, T., Taylor, J.
Contributors
Angehr, G., Biamonte, E., Criado, J., Garrigues, R., Sánchez, C., Sánchez, J., Sandoval, L., Stiles, F., Zook, J.
IUCN Red List evaluators
Butchart, S., Symes, A.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Touit costaricensis. Downloaded from
http://www.birdlife.org on 20/06/2013.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2013) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
http://www.birdlife.org on 20/06/2013.
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.
To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife
To contribute to discussions on the evaluation of the IUCN Red List status of Globally Threatened Birds, please visit BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums.
Additional resources for this species
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