Bringing the Cotorra Home

High in the trees of El Yunque, a flash of green flies past. It is a cotorra — the Puerto Rican parrot. Long ago, about a million of these parrots lived on the island. But by 1975, scientists could find only 13 left in the wild. That is fewer birds than fit on a school bus. The cotorra was almost gone. So people decided to fight back and save it.

High in the canopy of El Yunque, a streak of emerald green darts between the trees — a cotorra, the Puerto Rican parrot, found nowhere else on Earth. About five hundred years ago, roughly a million cotorras lived across Puerto Rico. Then forests were cleared and the birds were hunted and trapped. By 1975, biologists counted just 13 wild parrots, making the cotorra one of the most endangered birds in the world. Instead of giving up, scientists made a bold choice: they would not let this parrot vanish.

Scientists built a special bird home called the Iguaca Aviary inside El Yunque. An aviary is a safe place where birds can live and raise babies. Here, parrots lay eggs and chicks hatch. The very first chick was born in captivity in 1979. After that, more and more chicks hatched. Slowly, the number of cotorras started to grow again — one egg at a time.

To rebuild the population, scientists created a protected breeding center — today called the Iguaca Aviary — in El Yunque. An aviary is a safe place where parrots can pair up, lay eggs, and raise chicks under careful watch. The first captive-bred chick hatched in 1979 — a single bird that proved the idea could work. In the early years progress was slow, but year after year more chicks followed. Caretakers hand-fed weak hatchlings, guarded nests, and studied what the birds needed. Once the aviary held enough healthy parrots, the team began releasing some back into the forest to rebuild wild flocks.

In September 2017, a giant storm called Hurricane Maria roared across Puerto Rico with winds near 150 miles per hour. Powerful winds ripped leaves and nests from the trees. This is El Yunque's big danger — strong tropical storms, not slow-melting ice like colder rainforests far away. The wild cotorras in El Yunque were lost. But about 240 parrots were safe inside the strong aviary building. They all lived through the storm.

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico with winds near 150 mph that stripped the forest bare and tore apart nests. This is El Yunque's acute climate threat — sudden, violent tropical storms made stronger by a warming ocean, very different from the slow ice loss that endangers cooler rainforests far to the north. The storm wiped out El Yunque's small wild flock, a heartbreaking setback. Yet the roughly 240 parrots housed in the aviary's reinforced-concrete building weathered the tempest — none died during the hurricane itself, though nine were later lost to heat and stress. The captive population — the heart of the recovery — survived.

After the storm, scientists did not quit. In December 2020 they started releasing parrots back into the wild again. Each bird gets a checkup and practice before its big day. Then the cage opens and the cotorra flies free into the forest. Today there are around 250 wild cotorras across Puerto Rico, plus hundreds more safe in the aviaries. The flock is climbing back.

After Maria, the team rebuilt cages, cared for the survivors, and kept breeding. In December 2020, they restarted releases — carefully training each parrot to find food and dodge hawks before opening the door. Since then more than 80 birds have been freed at sites including El Yunque, Río Abajo, and Maricao. Today around 250 cotorras fly wild across Puerto Rico, with close to 469 more protected in the aviaries. The recovery is real and ongoing — wild parrots are once again nesting and raising chicks in the forest where they belong.