Almost three years ago I was fortunate enough to visit the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, which lies about 560miles/900km east of Madagascar. Just 720 sq miles/1865 km² in area (40 miles/64 km in length and 30 miles/47 km in width) this tiny island has an incredible biodiversity and before the first Europeans landed on the then almost uninhabited island in 1598 was a wildlife paradise.

Much of the following account - one of the most up-to-date on the web - comes from the 2008 ECHO PARAKEET MANAGEMENT REPORT which I was very kindly sent by Anna Reuleaux, who leads the team of researchers in the field in Mauritius. The photographs likewise come principally from Anna and her team and are copyright of the individuals named. Like virtually every researcher I’ve contacted while preparing Parrot Month, Anna and her colleagues have been incredibly helpful and supportive, and like the staff who worked on the Recovery Programme before them, their dedication to the birds they’re preserving is remarkable. I’d also like to thank Dr Glyn Young of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust for additional information. If any birder reading this visits Mauritius in the future and sees the world’s only wild Echos flying high over the island’s forests - as I did on my visit in 2006 - they know who to thank…

Two female Echo Parakeets, Mauritius. Photo copyright Charlie Moores

The Echo Parakeet Psitticula eques

The Echo Parakeet Psittacula eques is a medium-sized parakeet weighing between 130 and 210 grams. For anyone visiting Mauritius to look for it, it’s worth knowing that it is more than superficially similar to the Ring-necked Parakeet Psittacula krameri - and was once thought of as a subspecies of it - which was introduced about 1886, but there are differences if you get a long enough view to see them: the Echo is heavier and more robust, the tail is equal in length to the body (the Ring-necked’s is longer), it’s a darker emerald green in colour, and females have a black beak. They also have lower pitched calls and a slower flight pattern than the Ring-necked, though most people (myself included) are probably not experienced enough to use those two characters in the field.

The Fall…

Echo Parakeets were once common on Mauritius but began to decline in numbers and range in the mid 1800’s. After centuries of habitat destruction only about 1.27% of Mauritius’ native forest remained by the late twentieth century, and much of that was degraded as a result of past forestry practices and by the invasion of exotic plants - primarily guava Psidium cattleianum, privet Ligustrum robustum and jamrosa Syzygium jambos. As the Echos nested in cavities in emergent endemic trees and had always fed on the fruit, flowers, leaves, buds and bark of a wide range of native species, foraging widely and targeting different plant species at different times of the year, this was - inevitably - disastrous. By 1986 the population was estimated to be between 8 and 12 individuals, though Thorsen et al. (writing in 1997 in an unpublished report to the UNDP, World Parrot Trust, Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust and Mauritian Wildlife Foundation) believed that due to the discovery of previously unrecorded breeding groups the minimum population may have never been less than twenty. Slightly more than 8 - 12 perhaps, but a tiny population that still made it one of the rarest birds in the world of course. And one that really had very little habitat left to expand back into: as of today the wild population of Echo Parakeets is restricted to an area of less than 40 sq km of remnant native upland forest found within the 6800 hectare Black River Gorges National Park.

Echo Parakeets, Mauritius. Taken in Dec 2008 this photograph of six Echo Parakeets round a food hopper would have represented about half the extant population in 1986. Photo copyright Dennis Hansen and used with permission.

If deliberate habitat destruction had been the only problem the Echos had to contend with they may perhaps have survived in greater numbers up until that 1986 estimate of just 8 - 12 individuals was made, but frequent hurricanes and the typically careless or senseless introduction of a host of exotic mammals into this closed environment, including Black/Ship Rats Rattus rattus and Crab-eating Macaques Macaca fascicularis - both of which are predators of Echo nests, also had a devastating effect on the Echos and on other indigenous flora and fauna.

Another serious problem has been the Indian/Common Mynah Acridotheres tristis - well-known to many readers of 10,000 Birds as the winner of Australia’s Pest of the Year Award in 2007 - which was introduced to Mauritius by the French in 1761 (a first attempt in 1759 was unsuccessful) to control Red Locusts Nomadacris septemfasciata which were periodically destroying food crops on the island. They were so successful in controlling the locusts that the French Intendant on the island, Pierre Poivre enacted laws in 1768 and 1770 to protect them. Effective bio-control agents they may have been, but as they have more or less wherever they’ve been introduced (Australia, South Africa, the Middle East etc) these aggressive and bold cavity-nesting birds became common and they have now actively competed with the Echo Parakeet for food and nesting sites for more than two hundred years…

…and The Rise

Writing about the Echo Parakeet in 1984, Rosemary Low (’Endangered Parrots’, Blandford Press) said that “barring a miracle, it will be the next species to become extinct…” and “…the Echo will be the first parrot to be lost in the era of conservation”. The ‘miracle’ was though already underway, though it began stutteringly. With the species edging ever closer to extinction conservation efforts had been initiated by the Forestry Service & the International Council for Bird Preservation (now BirdLife International) in the early 1970s. Early attempts at starting a captive breeding programme by taking a total of four wild-bred chicks into captivity were a dismal failure as all died fairly soon after capture, but efforts were intensified by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and the Mauritius Conservation Unit in 1987 and continue to the present day.

The Echo Parakeet - like the Puerto Rican Parrot - has now been one of the most intensively managed avian species in the world and techniques to ensure breeding success have been improved continuously.

In the past these included habitat protection and improvement using fenced and weeded forest Conservation Management Areas (CMAs), rat control around nest sites, manipulation of breeding pairs including egg harvesting and chick fostering, and the supplementary feeding and provision of nest boxes.

Between 1993 and 1997 the management efforts were further refined and from 1997 onwards emphasis has been on protection of nest sites (from predators, competitors [including bees: nest-boxes have to be 'smoked' to remove bee colonies - photo right copyright Heather Richards] and weather), manipulation of wild broods (downsizing [removing chicks to foster parents] and upsizing/augmenting), regular examination of active nests and weighing of chicks, rescuing sick or underweight chicks, hand rearing and releasing chicks back to the wild.

6 - 10 day old Echo Parakeet nestlings, Mauritius. Clutches of 2 to 3 eggs (range 1 to 4) are laid from September to December. Eggs are laid at one to two day intervals and incubation starts after the first or second egg, and lasts around 25 days. Only females incubate the eggs. Chicks weigh between 7.0 and 10.5 grams at hatching. The chicks peak at up to 200 grams (although more commonly 170g) before fledging at between 120 and 160 grams, 48 to 69 days after hatching. One or two fledglings per nest was usual but with conservation management including supplementary feeding of the parents up to four chicks can fledge from one nest. Photo copyright Heather Richards and used with permission.

Thanks to these techniques and the constant supervision of field researchers, a remarkable 370 chicks have fledged in the wild during the last twelve seasons. The provision of nest-boxes has been increasingly successful and according to the Management Report:

Of the sixty eight nest boxes managed this year, forty five were used (i.e. eggs laid). Of the other 23 boxes in the field 3 were occupied by Echo females but no eggs were laid, 5 remained unused because one female occupied more than one box in the beginning of the season, 4 were occupied by bees at the critical prospecting time, 6 by Ring-neckeds and one was blocked for part of the season because a [Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease infected] bird had used it. This means that only 4 boxes were not used despite being available.

As of 30th April 2008 (as I’m writing this the 2008/2009 nesting season is underway) an estimated 362 wild Echo Parakeets were considered to be alive. 288 wild birds have been seen, and the maximum population estimate - assuming that some birds are alive somewhere on the island but not counted this year - is 431. 101 birds fledged from nests in the wild in 2007/2008, and, as the Management Report points out, the total population increase of twenty nine birds in the 2007/2008 season is not high when compared with the number of chicks produced but a number of birds died (or disappeared) with Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (which has been visibly prevalent in the Echo Parakeet population since 2004/05) in the past year.

‘First look’. An adult female and a chick peer from a nest-box, November 2008. Mauritius.
Photo copyright Dennis Hansen and used with permission.

An adult female feeding a fledged chick, December 2008. Mauritius.
Photo copyright Dennis Hansen and used with permission.

Whether proportionately the 2007/2008 population increase was disappointing or not, it’s true to say that the Echo Parakeet was taken to the absolute brink but has been brought back again thanks to the hard work of some extremely dedicated people. And it is hard work. Take a look at the RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE 2008/09 SEASON as written up in the Management Report

To accomplish our objectives in 2008/09 it is recommended that the team -

• Maintain the long established hopper sites at Mare Longue, Plaine Lièvre, Brise Fer and Bel Ombre field station. Make sure new pellets are ordered in time.
• Ensure all known nest sites are protected from predators etc. as described in this report
• Determine the status of all known breeding groups.
• Gather breeding data - i.e. clutch size, fertility, hatch rate and fledge rate from as many active nests as possible.
• Aim to make work more time efficient by predicting lay dates of individuals (as practiced in the last two seasons), candling eggs when they are first found and starting to ring chicks with closed rings at day 13 to 15 instead of day 12.
• Add shavings with insecticide to the nests when the eggs are first found or the female appears to be close to egg laying.
• Reduce checks at nests of females that have a history or a high potential of plucking their chicks. Decide about accessing nests according to the behaviour of the individuals. If necessary in a few cases, omit candling visit and hatch check as well as any nest accesses during early nestling stage.
• Place colour ring combinations on all known chicks and any un-ringed juvenile or adult birds caught during the season.
• Continue disease screening by: collecting serum and PCR blood samples from adult birds and taking PCR samples from chicks just before fledging. More emphasis should be placed on testing and re- testing non-supplementary fed birds and obtaining serum samples from nestlings.
• Verify the effectiveness of environmental swabbing and collect environmental swabs from hopper sites, nest sites and equipment (suits, climbing gear, footwear…)
• Continue disease screening of Ringneck Parakeets as opportunities arise; Obtain Serum and PCR samples; time permitting also mist-net these parakeets in the lower gorges.
• Increase the amount and quality of feeding observations. Aim to gather enough knowledge to consider planting food trees in the breeding areas.
• Continue to develop and improve the new design of hoppers for supplementary feeding.
• As time permits search for new Echo pairs and nest cavities in the following areas…(details removed)
• Continue placing the new smaller, horizontal Mynah boxes at nests, prioritising the sites considered vulnerable but aiming to equip every nest with a Mynah box over the course of the next few years.
• Design and construct different prototypes of PVC nest boxes and start replacing old wooden boxes at established sites before and after the breeding season. If they prove successful and feasible build all new nest boxes with PVC pipes.
• Place artificial nest boxes in suitable trees on the outskirts of the present breeding areas at Bel Ombre, South Scarp, Macchabé and Brise Fer, expanding the breeding areas rather than increasing the density of nests.
• At the end of the season apply boiled linseed oil to all wooden nest boxes
• Put the kettle on, take your boots off, put your feet up, and enjoy a thoroughly well-deserved rest after a job well-done - actually I added that last one, but it only seems fair…

Personally as someone who finds it a bit of a chore to keep the peanut feeders in my tiny garden well-stocked I am in awe of the work these people do saving a parrot that the vast majority of the world’s population doesn’t even know exists…

Two Echo Parakeets (female left, male right) ‘mutually preening’, Mauritius.
Photo copyright Dennis Hansen

It’s worth adding one last quote from the 2008 Management Report as a final thought. Conservation is an expensive endeavour and requires the co-operation and dedication of many different people and organisations. Below is part of the acknowledgements and thanks that the Echo Programme team concluded their report with.

The Echo Programme has many people to thank for their contributions. Without the support of so many people and organisations this programme could not have been so successful in enabling the Echo Parakeet to turn the corner and begin the long climb back from near extinction.
We are most grateful for the partnership we have with the Director, Mr Puttoo, and staff of the National Parks and Conservation Service (NPCS) of Mauritius, in particular Dr R. Sookhareea (RDO Wildlife). The invaluable funding for this season was provided by: the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust; Ireland Blyth Limited; and Chester Zoo. The World Parrot Trust has made a valuable financial contribution to the large scale disease screening effort. Huge thanks to Kaytee ® Products Inc for their ongoing commitment in donating parrot pellets to the programme.
Our greatest appreciation goes to the following: Dr. Carl Jones (MBE) for his vision and unique approach to intensive hands-on conservation. Members of the International Zoo Veterinary Group - Dr Andrew Greenwood for his assistance and advice on matters relating to PBFD. MWF Conservation Manager Vikash Tatayah made sure logistics and planningwent smoothly. Many thanks to all the MWF office and administrative staff; including fundraiser Lone Raffray, who has been fantastic at securing funds for the programme.

All of the above is worth bearing in mind should you ever be fortunate enough to find yourself on Mauritius watching a flock of wild Echo Parakeets crossing the evening sky as in the photo below. Without the efforts of some highly dedicated people none of us would ever be able to see a live Echo Parakeet again.
Please click the following link if you would like more information on donating to the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation: Donations.

‘Evening Flight’. A flock of wild Echo Parakeets, December 2008. Mauritius.
Photo copyright Dennis Hansen and used with permission.