Tracking what's alive on Earth and what affects it.
Humans, now
On the wall: 1,000 or fewer left in the wild
Puerto Rican parrot
520to550
Estimate, with range
February 2026
Amazona vittata
Puerto Rico: Río Abajo, El Yunque and Maricao forests
Figures as of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's update of February 2026; no survey dates are given.
About 520 to 550 Puerto Rican parrots live in the wild, an estimate with a range dated February 2026, added up from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's estimates for the Río Abajo, El Yunque and Maricao forests.
Hurricane Maria wiped out the whole wild population at El Yunque. Releases of captive-bred parrots have since restarted there.
How it was counted
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the wild parrots at each forest (Río Abajo, El Yunque and Maricao) as a range and gives no wild total. This page adds those ranges together, 520 at the low end and 550 at the high end, and covers wild animals only, not the birds in the aviaries.
An estimate with a range: about 520 to 550 wild parrots, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's estimates for Río Abajo, El Yunque and Maricao added together (the Service gives no wild total of its own).
What moves it
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service names hurricanes and disease: Hurricane Maria wiped out the whole wild population at El Yunque and part of Río Abajo's, and the parrots are managed in separate forests, in its words, "to ensure protection from diseases and natural disasters".
- hurricanes: Hurricane Maria (September 2017) wiped out the wild population at El Yunque and 40% of Río Abajo's.
because of the impacts from Hurricane Maria in September 2017, the entire wild population at EYNF was lost
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Caribbean Ecological Services Field Office. - disease and natural disasters, the reason the parrots are managed at three separate places.
to ensure protection from diseases and natural disasters
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Caribbean Ecological Services Field Office.
Who is helping
The Puerto Rican Parrot Interagency Recovery Program brings together the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Iguaca Aviary), Puerto Rico's DNER (José Vivaldi Aviary) and the U.S. Forest Service. It breeds parrots at the aviaries and releases them into the wild: releases restarted at El Yunque and Río Abajo and later began at Maricao.
The next count
New estimates appear on an irregular schedule, and no date for the next count is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Caribbean Ecological Services Field Office Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): 520 to 550 (Estimate, with range, February 2026).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.