Carolina Parakeet: Glimpses of a Vanished Species, The

Auk, The, Jan 2006 by Wright, Timothy F

The Carolina Parakeet: Glimpses of a Vanished Species.-Noel R R. Snyder. 2004. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, xii 153 pp., 2 color plates, 35 blackand-white photographs, 2 tables. ISBN 0-69111795-0. Cloth, $29.95.-The Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) was once widespread and abundant across much of the eastern United States. Like the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) and Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), the Carolina Parakeet went into decline in the 19th century and was believed to have gone extinct in the early part of the 20th. The recent electrifying news of the rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Fitzpatrick et al. 2005) has raised hopes that other bird species long believed to be extinct may in fact await rediscovery. In this context, a volume reviewing the history and biology of the Carolina Parakeet is timely indeed.

As an ornithologist studying parrots, my thoughts of the Carolina Parakeet are always accompanied by a sharp pang of regret that temperate North America's only native parrot was gone before anyone thought to undertake systematic study of its natural history. In the absence of such primary data, the best we can hope for is an authoritative species account that synthesizes fragmentary and scattered material to draw a comprehensive picture of the vanished species. Snyder attempts such a synthesis here, and it is a strong effort; the occasional unevenness of coverage in the volume seems more a reflection of the shortcomings of the source material than those of the author.

The book can be divided into two parts that differ in approach and style. The first is a lively historical account of the decline of the species and the personalities associated with its last known wild populations, many of which were ignored by the ornithological authorities of the day. This portion is based on a review of historical records, augmented by interviews of elderly residents of central Florida and field investigations by the author. Snyder builds a convincing case that populations of the Carolina Parakeet persisted in central Florida's Okeechobee swamp into the late 1920s and in the lower Santee River of South Carolina into the late 1930s. These reports considerably postdate the generally accepted extinction date of 1914, based on the demise of a captive pair held in the Cincinnati Zoo. The text here is enlivened by photographs of people, objects, and locales discussed, including pictures of a controversial last-recorded nest and the eggs collected from it.

The conclusion that wild populations persisted into the middle of the 20th century provides a distressing subtext to the remainder of the book, which synthesizes available data on the biology of the Carolina Parakeet and discusses probable causes for its extinction. Here, Snyder is forced to sift through historical accounts, many of which were previously compiled by Daniel McKinley in a series of state-bystate records of the species (e.g. McKinley 1985). This section represents no mean scholarly feat by Snyder, for despite the abundance of this species before its decline, historical accounts from such well-known naturalists as Audubon, Wilson, Nuttall, and Brewster are striking in their patchwork nature and conflicting content. Snyder does his best to fill in the resulting gaps with extrapolations from the biology of other parrot species, based on personal knowledge gleaned from extensive fieldwork. Despite this effort, chapters on habitat preferences, feeding habits, and breeding biology raise as many questions as they answer regarding the degree to which the Carolina Parakeet relied on virgin primary forest, the relative importance of different food items, whether this species was toxic to its predators, the social structure of flocks, the timing of the breeding season, and whether it nested exclusively in cavities or also constructed twig nests.

This last question raises an interesting angle of inquiry. Nest construction is a trait found in only one other Neotropical parrot species, the Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus). This species is historically widespread in the temperate regions of South America and is now invading several portions of temperate North America and Europe. To what extent can the Monk Parakeet be considered an ecological replacement of the Carolina Parakeet? Do these two parrot species share similar physiological or behavioral adaptations to temperate climates? These questions are not addressed here, though Snyder suggests that Conuropsis and Myiopsitta are closely related, a hypothesis amenable to testing using ancient-DNA techniques and existing study skins.

The book concludes with chapters weighing the probable causes of extinction of the Carolina Parakeet. Here, unfortunately, Snyder is particularly hampered by the scarcity of ecological data and is consequently forced into extensive speculation. The usual suspects are all discussed, including shooting (as crop pests and for scientific collecting), capture for the pet trade, changes in food supply, competition for nest cavities from introduced European honeybees, and mortality from predators or parasites. Snyder concludes, as did McKinley before him (McKinley 1980), that many of these factors may have played a role in the parakeet's decline, but none are obvious culprits behind the species' final disappearance.