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Did you know, Cayman Turtle Centre is not only focused on marine life conservation? We work with our land-based fauna as well! More specifically the islands’ national bird, the Cayman parrot, which is indigenous to the Cayman Islands. There are two different species of Cayman Parrot, the Grand Cayman Amazon and the Cayman Brac Amazon, which is the smaller of the two.

Here at Cayman Turtle Centre, we not only breed and release turtles but our parrots too! Unfortunately, both species of Cayman parrots are still at risk of population decline, due to habitat loss from human development (homes, agriculture, businesses, hotels, condos etc.), the illegal pet trade and natural disasters such as hurricanes. Recently the Grand Cayman Amazon was downgraded from ‘endangered’ to ‘vulnerable’, but the Cayman Brac Amazon has retained its ‘endangered’ status.

We currently have 11 Cayman parrots at Cayman Turtle Centre: Island Wildlife Encounter, 6 of which are Grand Cayman Amazon parrots and the other 5 are Cayman Brac Amazon parrots. Some of our parrots have been born and raised at our facility and some were rescued from the wild. For example, our Grand Cayman Amazon, Coco, was rescued after being left unable to fly following a vehicular collision.  Coco has formed a close bond with her caretakers, allowing her to be trained as an ambassador parrot. A part of Coco’s training includes human interaction with park visitors and visiting students to help further educate them on Cayman parrots, their threats, and our conservation efforts.

Since we started this initiative, we have had great success in the breeding of these beautiful endemic birds. Several eggs have already been laid, with several chicks hatched and then released into the wild.

In recent years, we've had some wonderful news regarding our captive breeding. One of our breeding pairs ‘Mango’ and ‘Bebop’ became the first Cayman Brac Amazon parrots recorded to breed in captive care. In 2019 they laid and cared for their first egg/chick named ‘Bluffy’. A second offspring ‘Kiwi’, was hatched and raised in early 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2021 they welcomed their third offspring, "Julie".

If you would like to see and meet our Cayman Parrots, they can be found in our Caribbean Aviary along with other beautiful and colourful birds that call the Cayman Islands and the Caribbean home.

Join our cause today and not only save turtles but our parrots too! Visit us at www.caymanturtles.ky to donate, sponsor or adopt your very own turtle. All donations received will go directly to our research and conservation efforts.