News
Today, 10th December 2019, marks a milestone in the 50 years of efforts to save the last endemic parrot of the Mascarenes - The Echo Parakeet is downlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable by BirdLife International / IUCN.
Link to IUCN Red List page for the Echo Parakeet: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22685448/154065622
Link to IUCN press release and data: https://www.iucn.org/news/species/201912/species-recoveries-bring-hope-amidst-biodiversity-crisis-iucn-red-list
Link to BirdLife International Press Release : http://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/red-list-2019-guam-rail-2nd-bird-species-recover-extinction-wild
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The Echo Parakeet is also known as the ‘grosse câteau verte’ or to the scientists, Psittacula eques. It declined in parallel to loss of forests on Mauritius (from full native vegetation cover to less than 1.5% good quality forest today), and suffered from a host of introduced predators (cats, rats, monkeys) and competitors (Common Mynah, Indian Ring-necked Parakeet). It had become the World’s rarest parrot by the late 1970’s, when less than 20 birds were known in the wild, in the Black River Gorges.
A captive breeding programme was set-up in Black River village in 1975, but techniques for breeding Echo Parakeets and overcoming captive management problems were only fully mastered in the early 1990’s, when the number of birds produced from captive pairs significantly increased. Management of remaining birds in the wild also improved significantly. By 1997, enough birds were produced in captivity to trial a release of three birds in Macchabe Forest. The released birds were trained to take supplementary food from specially designed food containers and soon enough, they were training wild birds to do so too. Birds in captivity had used artificial wooden nest boxes and recognised these boxes when placed in the wild. Previous attempts to entice wild Echo Parakeets to use artificial nest boxes were in vain. The release was a success, and through much of the 1990’s and early 2000’s, the Echo Parakeet was one of the most intensively managed birds in the world, and included releases, nest improvement, artificial nest provision, supplementary feeding, captive breeding, eggs and chick rescue and manipulations, predator and competitor control etc. Birds were released at other sites such as Combo (2000), Bel Ombre (2003), Ferney Valley (2015) and Ebony Forest (2018).
In 2004/05, during an attempted release in the Combo region of the National Park, a highly virulent introduced disease, Psittacene Beak and Feather Disease, struck the Echo Parakeet. Management was instantly reduced to avoid the spread of the disease. Despite heavy chick and fledgling mortality, this did not prevent the increase of the species. It was downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered in 2007. A major effort was spent to improve artificial nest boxes, which will remain a very long term management element given that forests quality, and thus availability of natural nesting cavities in large endemic trees, will continue to decline overall, despite habitat restoration efforts. However, areas of good quality native forest (Brise Fer, Macchabe, Mare Longue, Bel Ombre) are extensively used by Echo Parakeets for feeding and nesting. Attempts to reduce spread of the disease were not successful in the end, but instead has produced a more robust population against the viral disease.
The total population is currently estimated at over 800 birds, quite a progression from the low numbers recorded in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s. The releases in the Bambou Mountains (Ferney Valley) and Chamarel Mountains (Ebony Forest) appear to be promising, with confirmed breeding in the Bambou Mountains at Vallee de l’Est. These more recent sub-populations could help us to reach a thousand birds in a few years. However, habitat restoration must continue to expand, imports of invasive alien species of parrots and plants halted, and the close management of the species maintained. Whilst this downlisting is an encouragement to all involved, the work has to go on!
The Echo Parakeet is a model for the conservation of other rare parrots around the world, and the success could not have happened without the dedication and hard work of hundreds of field biologists over the years. Several organisations have also been of tremendous support over these decades, first and foremost the Mauritius National Parks and Conservation Service and Forestry Service, international supporting organisations such as Chester Zoo (UK), Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (Jersey, Channel Islands), World Parrot Trust (UK), Loro Parque (Tenerife), International Zoo Veterinary Group (UK), universities (Kent, East Anglia, Reading, Zoological Society of London), regional and international funding bodies such UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme and Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund, and local private partners (Ferney Co.Ltd, Ebony Forest, Mauritius Commercial Bank, IFS Foundation, Terra Foundation).
