Jamaica boasts many names of importance in the bird business - Phillip Henry Gosse wrote Birds of Jamaica in the 1840s with the help of his Jamaican friend, Richard Hill. James Bond, to Frank Bernal, Audrey Downer, Robert Sutton, Ann Sutton, Catherine Levy and Margaret Hodges are famous birders - maybe you could add you name to this illustrious list. Some of the birds reaching the island came from North and Central America. Because the water isolated them, they developed changes, little by little. And so they became different species from their mainland cousins.
Species is the name given to the group of birds, animals or plants that can breed with each other.
But it can not breed with a Black-billed parrot. They belong to different species. However, both types of parrots share common features with one another, and with parrots on other Caribbean islands. This distinguishes them from the many other birds that are found in different areas. We have 25 endemics among the 250 or so birds found here.