ESA Population Trend Determined:
CARIBBEAN BROWN PELICAN (Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis)
Status since listing: Increased
Growth since listing: 24%
ESA status: Delisted
List year: 1970
Delisted: Final 2009
Recovery plan: 1986
SUMMARY
The Caribbean brown pelican nests throughout the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It declined due to pesticides, habitat loss, killing, nest-site disturbance, and possibly changes in oceanic food production/availability. Nesting on U.S. islands declined from 475 in 1980 to 201 in 1984, then increased in the 1990s to 590 in 2009, when it was delisted from the Endangered Species Act as a recovered species. The number of nests averaged 350 in the 1980s and 528 in the 2000s.
MONA YELLOW-SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD, OR LA MARIQUITA DE PUERTO RICO (Agelaius xanthomus monensis)
Status since listing: Increased
Growth since listing: 83%
ESA status: Endangered
List year: 1976
Recovery plan: 1996
Critical habitat: 1977
SUMMARY
The Mona yellow-shouldered blackbird is threatened by habitat destruction, invasive predators (such as rats), and avian pox. Its isolation on the island of Mona, however, has spared it from more damaging invasives found on the main island of Puerto Rico. It was listed as endangered in 1976, increasing from a 1975 post-breeding roost count of 200 birds to 372 birds in 2010.
PIPING PLOVER, ATLANTIC DPS (Charadrius melodus)
Status since listing: Increased
Growth since listing: 212%
ESA status: Threatened
List year: 1985
Recovery plan: 2003
Critical habitat: 2001
SUMMARY
The Atlantic piping plover initially declined due to hunting and the millinery trade. With these eliminated it increased in the first half of the 20th century, but began declining after 1950 due to development, beach crowding and predation. It was listed as threatened in 1985. Intensive habitat protection and predator control grew its U.S. population from 550 pairs in 1986 to 1,679 in 2015. The 1,600 pair recovery goal was met in 2007 and 2012 through 2015 (although 2014 data is lacking).
PIPING PLOVER, GREAT LAKES DPS (Charadrius melodus)
Status since listing: Increased
Growth since listing: 295%
ESA status: Endangered
List year: 1985
Recovery plan: 2003
Critical habitat: 2001
SUMMARY
The Great Lakes piping plover initially declined due to hunting, egg collecting and the millinery trade. More recent declines are the result of development, predation and human recreation in plover nesting habitat. When the plover was listed as endangered in 1985, only 19 pairs remained in the Great Lakes region. The species continued to decline to 12 pairs in 1990 before increasing steadily to 75 pairs in 2015.
PIPING PLOVER, NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS DPS (Charadrius melodus)
Status since listing: Increased
Growth since listing: 180%
ESA status: Threatened
List year: 1985
Recovery plan: 2016
Critical habitat: 2002
SUMMARY
The Northern Great Plains piping plover was listed as endangered in 1985 due to threats from habitat loss, predation and disturbance. The plover's numbers in the Northern Great Plains region increased from about 525 breeding pairs in 1986 (the year after it was listed) to 1,468 breeding pairs in 2008.
PUERTO RICAN BROAD-WINGED HAWK, OR GUARAGUAO DE BOSQUE (Buteo platypterus brunnescens)
Status since listing: Stable
Growth since listing: 1%
ESA status: Endangered
List year: 1994
Recovery plan: 1997
SUMMARY
The Puerto Rican broad-winged hawk declined due to habitat loss and degradation, human disturbance, competition with red-tailed hawks, and genetic problems due to its very small population size. It was listed as an endangered species in 1994 with an estimated 124 birds inhabiting three forests. The population has remained stable since then, with an estimated 125 hawks present in 2010.
PUERTO RICAN NIGHTJAR (Caprimulgus noctitherus)
Status since listing: Increased
Growth since listing: 20%
ESA status: Endangered
List year: 1973
Recovery plan: 1984
SUMMARY
The Puerto Rican nightjar declined due to habitat loss from agricultural, residential and industrial development, livestock grazing, wildfire, and predation by invasive mongooses and feral cats. A main population's density was 0.11 birds per hectare (483 birds) in 1971 and 0.14 (615) in 1992. While a 2008 estimate was incomparable, it was much higher, and by that time the species' known range had increased and forest conditions had improved.
PUERTO RICAN PARROT (Amazona vittata)
Status since listing: Increased
Growth since listing: 354%
ESA status: Endangered
List year: 1967
Recovery plan: 2009
SUMMARY
The Puerto Rican parrot declined to near-extinction due to deforestation, hunting and hurricane damage. When it was listed as an endangered species in 1967, there were just 24 birds in the wild. Due to habitat protection, captive breeding and predator control, by 2014 the species had increased to 109 in the wild and 409 in captivity.
PUERTO RICAN PLAIN PIGEON (Columba inornata wetmorei)
Status since listing: Increased
Growth since listing: 363%
ESA status: Endangered
List year: 1970
Recovery plan: 1982
SUMMARY
The Puerto Rican plain pigeon declined to near-extinction due to hunting and the clearing of forests for agriculture and development. It remains highly threatened by habitat loss for development, hurricane damage to forests, and low bird density. Overall its total population has fluctuated, but it increased from a few hundred survivors observed at the time of the species' listing in 1970 and an estimated 2,055 birds in existence in 1986 to an estimated population of 9,509 birds in 2010.
PUERTO RICAN SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (Accipiter striatus venator)
Status since listing: Decreased
Growth since listing: -68%
ESA status: Endangered
List year: 1994
Recovery plan: 1997
SUMMARY
The Puerto Rican sharp-shinned hawk has been threatened primarily by habitat degradation and loss. It is also affected by warble-fly parasitism, road construction, human disturbance, and its low numbers and limited range. This subspecies was listed as endangered in 1994. It declined from an estimated 150 in 1992 to 49 in 2015. In 2015 it was called a "ghost bird," and people feared it would be extirpated from its former stronghold, Maricao Forest.
PUERTO RICAN YELLOW-SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD, OR LA MARQUITA DEL PUERTO RICO (Agelaius xanthomus xanthomus)
Status since listing: Increased
Growth since listing: 176%
ESA status: Endangered
List year:1976
Recovery plan: 1996
Critical habitat: 1977
SUMMARY
The Puerto Rico yellow-shouldered blackbird declined dramatically due to cowbird parasitism, predation by introduced species such as black rats, and habitat loss due to development. The bird was listed as endangered in 1976 and the post-breeding roost count of its population on the island of its name was of 272 birds in 1982. The population grew to 750 post-breeding birds counted in 2012.
ROSEATE TERN, CARIBBEAN DPS (Sterna dougallii dougallii)
Status since listing: Stable
Growth since listing: 30%
ESA status: Threatened
List year: 1989
Recovery plan: 1999
SUMMARY
The Caribbean distinct population segment of the roseate tern declined due to predation by invasive species, collection by humans, nest-site disturbance, habitat lost to development, disruption of vegetation succession processes, and storm-driven erosion. Since listing, Florida and Culebra nests have declined from 300 to 100 each. Southwestern Puerto Rico nests grew from 474 to 934. Virgin Islands nests fluctuated but were stable overall at about 1,200. Rangewide, nests were relatively stable at around 2,000.
Extinct or Extirpated Prior to ESA Listing:
WHITE-NECKED CROW (Corvus leucognaphalus)
ESA status: Endangered
List year: 1991
SUMMARY
The white-necked crow was extirpated from Puerto Rico by deforestation and hunting. As of 2015, the bird remained on Hispaniola where it faced the same threats. While the last sighting of the crow on Puerto Rico occurred in 1963, the species was listed as endangered in the United States in 1991.