7 Parrot Species Thriving in Mérida’s Urban Oasis

Mérida, Yucatán — With over a decade of work dedicated to bird protection, the Santa María Project is a space committed to the rescue, rehabilitation, and monitoring of urban birds, particularly parrots, in Yucatán. At the facility, more than 200 birds, representing 12 of the 22 species found in Mexico, receive the care and rehabilitation they need to be reintegrated into their habitat and regain their freedom.

“The latest count revealed seven species, seven species already present, and of which not all were, for example, the White-fronted Amazon was not in Yucatán, it is now in Mérida; it was not in Yucatán, it was on the peninsula, now we can say it is in Yucatán and reproducing,” said Pierre Medina, director of the Santa María Project. “The Yellow-lored Amazon is a parrot that also was not in Yucatán; however, there is now a very important population in Mérida, reproducing every season. The Military Macaw is the largest parrot in Mexico, which also was not registered in Yucatán; however, we have one in Mérida that has been registered in the north, and we also have one that visits us here at the management unit, so these are species that are already here, living and flying in Yucatán.”

“Patachín,” a 17-year-old Yellow-headed Amazon parrot, is a clear example of what a cage and captivity can do to these species.

“What we want to promote is that parrots be free; this is a species that has culturally been adopted as a pet when in reality it is not,” said Camila Castrejón, a member of the Santa María Project. “What we want to convey, through this empathy that has been created as a pet—’oh it’s so cute, it talks to me’—and I think that in the end people develop genuine affection for them, it’s just that the way of showing it is not the right one. We reflect this by showing how the parrot, a species with which empathy has been built, is better off free. They live better in freedom, and they fulfill their ecosystem functions such as seed dispersal, the regeneration of trees, and this is part of what they are and their natural functions.”

The Santa María Project is already working on a project with the Mérida City Council so that the Cuxtal Reserve, the largest green lung in Mérida, can be where these rehabilitated birds can be and where new generations can learn to appreciate them in the wild.

“We encourage children to find ways such as ecotourism, like bird watching, to get involved in this game; we call it a bit like playing Pokémon,” said Meztli Hernández, a member of the Santa María Project. “So you go, you see a bird and you register it, catalog how many you have seen, what species you have seen, that is precisely the way we want to reach them.”

Through the Urban Parrot Monitoring program, citizens participate by reporting sightings, which has allowed for the detection of the seven species of parrots that now inhabit Mérida.