ONCE UPON A TIME in the not-so-distant past, the thick-billed parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) roamed southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico by the thousands. A dark-green bird with a distinctive red forehead patch and a fondness for pine nuts, it was one of only two hookbills indigenous to the United States.

Then in the 1930s, the 15-inch-long psittacine died off in the states, a collateral victim of logging. In 1979 the thick-billed parrot officially landed on the endangered species list. Now, only about 4,000 live in the forested mountains of Mexico.

The thick-billed parrot once called the United States its native home. (Photo courtesy of Wildlife Trust.)

In 1986, biologists attempted to reestablish thick-billeds in Arizona. Had they been successful, the U.S. once again would have enjoyed its own native species of parrot. Unfortunately, the project, centered in the Chiricahua Mountains, failed disastrously.

This time, however, the problem was not people. Almost all 40 birds were picked off, one by one, by a northern goshawk.

Flying lessons
Scientists blamed the released thick-billeds' vulnerability on poor flying skills.

Chris Biro, a bird trainer who has been following the thick-billeds' plight, agrees. What the birds needed, he says, was more practice at flying together and evading predators.

"Many of them were adult birds, some were young, all kept in large community cages," he said. "You can't take birds like that and expect them to suddenly survive on their own outside. Birds in the wild need to have 100 percent survival skills. They can't be handicapped in any way. That's just how nature works."

For the last 12 years, Biro has been training his own parrots to fly free on his property, 20 acres near rural Amboy, Wash. The eclectic flock includes mitred conures, a sun conure, a Patagonia conure, a blue-and-gold macaw, a greenwing macaw and a pair of Moluccan cockatoos.

All of the birds have become adept at escaping hawks and other airborne predators by outmaneuvering them. Biro, who studied electrical engineering in college but now makes a living showing his parrots at fairs and other events, believes domestically raised thick-billed parrots can be taught the same evasive maneuvers. What's more, he thinks he's the one to do it.

"My purpose is beyond having birds fly around my yard," he said. "Right now, we are losing birds in the wild, not saving them. Reintroduction of domestically raised birds is to me the future of many of these species of birds."

Proving the theory
Last summer, Biro began putting out feelers for a breeding pair of thick-billed parrots. In October he finally located a pair in southern California. A friend who lives in the area purchased the thick-billeds for $3500 and loaned them to Biro. That allowed him to legally transport the birds across state lines back to Washington without the need for a federal permit.

Biro's ultimate goal is to help to repopulate Arizona with thick-billed parrots. But that's a long way off. First, he has to get his two adult thick-billeds settled and breeding in the nest boxes in their elevated 6 X 6 X 21-foot outdoor cage.

Next, Biro will begin training the pair's chicks to free fly. Those chicks could need three to five years to mature sexually and produce their own babies, which Biro would also free fly. In the end, it could be years before he has a flock that is large enough and flies cohesively enough to make it in the wilds of Arizona.

In any event, the flock won't include his first two birds. The 10-year-old thickbilleds are already too old to learn how to fly free.

"There's a real critical window there," Biro explains. "Flocking skills are developed by flying together and it takes skill to do that. And they have to learn it at the right time in their lives. Babies taught to fly is your best bet."

Scarlets and condors
Biro acknowledges that he is not the only one who believes freeflight is an important component of reintroducing domestically raised birds. Scientists with the California Condor Project and researchers working with macaws in Costa Rica are doing similar work.

Biro also realizes that Arizona officials and scientists, understandably sensitive about the failed 1986 attempt, may be a bit touchy about his desire to help.

"As far as they're concerned, I'm a nobody," he says.

Nevertheless, Biro envisions his flying expertise dovetailing with biologists' scientific knowledge to produce a near-perfect plan for reestablishing the thick-billeds on U.S. soil.

"My objective at this point is to train the babies up the way my freeflight parrots are raised, so I can show that domestically raised thick-billeds are capable of flying as a flock and avoiding predators," he says.

If he is able to do that, the sky is literally the limit in reintroducing other endangered parrots.

"I can do this," he says confidently. "I would bet everything I have that I can make this work."

Only time - something of which the thick-billeds and other endangered birds may not have much left - will tell.

- Carla Thornton