By Jason Malham

he sound of wing flapping in the leafy canopy reveals EchoParakeets bathing in the wet foliage. At first just one or two

birds are visible. But as the eye becomes accustomed to theiramazing camouflage, more and more parakeets materialise untilfifteen or twenty birds can be seen. Their method of bathing israther comical to observe - in one fluid movement they dip theirhead down under the outer tips of the leaves, allowing the waterto run down over the head and neck, then the chest and belly isthrust down onto the foliage and rubbed along the leaves whilstflapping the wings simultaneously. The birds systematically worktheir way around the tops of selected, nice bushy trees becomingabsolutely bedraggled in the process.

Not very long ago such a sight was only a dream...November 2007 PsittaScene 3Photo: © Christopher Kaiser

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Since those dire first years there has beenhuge progress in the recovery of thisspecies. Just this year we have achievedone of our major goals with theannouncement that the Echo Parakeet(Psittacula eques) has been down-listed fromCritically Endangered to Endangered!Never has a parrot gone from the world'srarest to being down-listed - and in lessthan 10 years at that. With a currentpopulation estimate of 330 birds, theprogramme has surpassed many people'sexpectations - even our own. This successcertainly didn't happen overnight. It hasbeen due to years of hard work by manypassionate and dedicated people. Withoutthe team effort of the field staff, hand-rearing and release staff, office supportstaff etc., success would not have beenforthcoming. Every person that has been

involved with Echos over the years deservesa big pat on the back, and we should all feelproud of what has been achieved!

Success aside, it's important to rememberthat the Echo Parakeet is still very muchendangered. Three hundred and thirty birdsis really not that many. The recentemergence of Psittacine Beak and FeatherDisease (PBFD) in the Echo population hasbeen a major complicating factor in theirrecovery. The disease has been visiblyprevalent in the Echo Parakeet populationsince the beginning of the 2004/2005breeding season when five or six releasedbirds were observed with initial clinical signsof the virus. Screening the population isnow a major priority of the Echoprogramme.

We are in a very unique situation in terms ofdisease research. Eighty percent or more ofthe birds are individually colour ringed. Weknow the ancestry of most of these birdsand many can be studied over the longerterm. We have been monitoring the

Just over a decade ago the Echo Parakeet wasconsidered the Rarest Parrot in the world.

It was a moment of great excitement to seea single Echo fly over this same clearing.

The clearing is Plaine Lievre, known to many as "camp." It is the largest fieldstation managed by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and the location of the firstefforts to save the Echo Parakeet from extinction. Camp is still the main location ofEcho work, and it has been an integral part of the amazing success story that isthe Echo Parakeet Programme...

“Achilles,” an Echo Parakeet with severe PBFD.

Photo: © Dennis Hansen

Photo: © Sim

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development of PBFD since its apparentoutset. There is a long list of questions wewant to answer, such as:

l What proportion of the population isencountering the disease?For how long has the virus been in thepopulation?Are Ring-neck Parakeets a source orreservoir for the virus?What is the mortality rate?What happens long-term to birds thatovercome the disease?

A major component of the research thisseason is testing the Ring-necked Parakeetpopulation for prevalence of PBFD. We aim totest 50+ birds.

At this stage we are not certain what the longterm impact of the virus will have on thespecies. However, we are learning more eachseason as we obtain more test results andcontinue long-term observations of individuals.The provision of supplementary food has beena huge aid in our aim to closely monitor asmany birds as possible. More than 50% of thepopulation now takessupplementary food andmany birds can be seen ona daily basis.

While PBFD in the Echopopulation may seem allbad news, there are somegood notes. There are a number of birds whichhave developed yellow feathers and thenrecovered after the following seasons moult.The majority of these birds have been shownto carry antibodies. We had one female whichhad yellow feathers and some featherdeterioration, testing PCR positive with theactive virus. A year later she had recovered andnow looks completely normal! So it definitelyappears that some birds, including fullyinfected individuals, are overcoming the virus.This is great news.

Having worked on the Kakapo (Strigopshabroptilus) in New Zealand, I joined the Echo

team as Programme Coordinator in August2001. Back then I was saying, "Yeah, I am justgonna do the one season and then move on…"Then halfway through that first season theEchos were definitely getting under my skin. Istarted thinking, "Well, ok, I'll come back nextseason and then I'll move on…" And so it went- my catch cry became - "Yep, this is my lastseason…honest…" Six years later I am stillhere. But, this season (2007/08) is my lastseason, and I will leave with many greatmemories and feeling very happy with what wehave achieved during my time here.

I joined the programme at a great time becausemany of the intensive management techniqueshad already been tried, rat prevention measuresand supplementary feeding procedures werewell developed. The first nest box had beenused by an Echo and cavity modifications hadbeen developed to good effect. Also, recruitsfrom the previous seasons were just beginningto reach breeding age. We capitalised on all ofthis and made additional small improvementsand over the next few seasons the Echopopulation pretty much skyrocketed.

We were able to cease the very intensivemanagement of the breeding birds after2004/05 because there were enough birdsbreeding and enough chicks fledging to ensurethe continued growth of the population. In2005/06 the programme moved into the lessintensive "minimal management" regime. Thishad been a medium term goal but we achievedit about one season earlier than expected.Minimal management focuses only onprotecting nest sites, providing nest boxes, andproviding supplementary food. All clutches andbroods are left intact. Chicks doing poorly arenot rescued and there is no hand-rearing orreleasing.

The Echo Parakeet- Is the last of 4-7 Psittacula parakeet

species that once existed on WesternIndian Ocean Islands. Now found only onMauritius, they once lived on the islands ofSeychelles, Reunion and Rodrigues as well.

- Is most closely related to the Indian Ring-necked Parakeet. The Echo is slightlylarger, a darker green and has morerounded wings and a shorter broader tail.

- Breeds from August to January. It usuallylays a clutch of 2-4 eggs that hatch after22-23 days. The young leave the nestafter about 50-70 days. One or two youngtypically fledge from successful(unmanaged) nests.

After centuries of habitat destruction only about1.27% of Mauritius' native forest remains. Theremaining native forest is degraded as a result ofpast forestry practices and by the invasion ofexotic plants. The degraded forest has had twomajor impacts on Echos. A reduction in

abundance and variety of fruitingendemic trees has meant ashortage of food during the chickrearing period in some years. Inaddition, slow regeneration oftrees has lead to a decrease in thenumber of old trees which thebirds rely on for nesting cavities.

Predation of Echo nests by highly arboreal ShipRats (Rattus rattus) and Crab-eating Macaques(Macaca fascicularis) has had a significant impact.Indian Mynahs (Acridotheres tristis) predate eggsand chicks and aggressively take over nest sites.The introduced Indian Ring-necked Parakeet(Psittacula krameri) is exceedingly common onMauritius (possibly numbering more than 30,000!)and competes with Echos for nesting sites andprobably food. Ring-necked Parakeets are apotential source of PBFD and we are currentlyresearching the relationship between theincidence of the virus in Echos and theabundance of Ring-necks.

Never has a parrot gone from theworld’s rarest to being down-listed -and in less than 10 years at that.

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There are problems facing Echos from almostevery angle, all of which contributed to themassive population decline in the first place. Inthe late 1980's it was blatantly obvious topeople like Project Leader Carl Jones thatunless something was done immediately, thespecies was on the fast road to extinction.Conservation efforts to recover the Echo

Parakeet were actually initiated by the ForestryService & International Council for BirdPreservation in the early 1970s and intensifiedby the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF)and the Mauritius Conservation Unit in 1987.During the early years the recovery programmefocused on learning why the species was so rareand why it was not breeding well. From the mid-1990's management was intensified andtechniques such as double clutching wereattempted.

By 1997 the management regime focused onaddressing the major problems facing Echos.Initial emphasis was placed on protection ofnest sites (from predators, competitors andweather); manipulation of wild broods(downsizing and upsizing); regular examinationof active nests and weighing of chicks; rescuingsick or underweight chicks; provision ofsupplementary food; hand-rearing and releasingjuveniles back to the wild. Nest boxes were triedwith little success at first. Then in 2000/2001 abird named Gabriella became the first Echo inhistory to use an artificial nest box (she was also

the first released Echo to breed in the wild).The next year four birds laid eggs in boxes.During that period the nest boxes were huge.They leaked and were very heavy and difficultto erect. Over the next few years (2003-05) wedeveloped a new nest box design which is light,compact, water and monkey-proof and veryattractive to Echos. Up to twenty new boxeshave been placed in the field every season since2001/02. Boxes are placed in easily accessibleareas to aid our management.

The number of breeding birds has risensignificantly in the last few seasons as newrecruits reach breeding age. In the 2001/02season 16 females laid 40 eggs, and 21 birdsfledged in the wild. We also released 18 birdsinto the wild that season. Fast forward to the2006/07 season where we did no intensivemanagement - no rescues, fosters, hand-rearingor releasing. There were 60 nesting attempts by57 females (three birds recycled after losingtheir first clutch), with 160 eggs laid and 72chicks fledged! There has been a correspondingincrease in the use of nest boxes. In 2006/07

Re hydration for a rescued malnourishedchick was sometimes required.

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we had 65 boxes in the field, and 41 were used(eggs laid) by Echos!

A small captive breeding population ismaintained at the Gerald Durrell EndemicWildlife Sanctuary in Black River township. Atthe peak of intensive management up to 14chicks were produced there in a season. Some ofthese were used in brood manipulations in thewild (e.g. fostering in nests where infertile eggshad been laid) but most of them were releasedto boost the wild population.

As the Echo population has grown there hasbeen a logical increase in the number of knownnesting attempts. With minimum management(no chicks rescued and hand-reared), theproportion of nests that fledged at least onechick has remained relatively consistent (50-65%). However, fewer chicks are fledging pernest attempt because those that would havebeen rescued in the past now die within thenest. A very interesting bonus of minimalmanagement has been that some pairs (all butone being supplementary fed), have been able to

fledge more chicks than in the past. In the lasttwo seasons we have had several pairs fledgethree chicks each. Last season we had anexceptional case of a pair fledging four healthychicks! This is probably the first time such anevent has occurred for hundreds of years - sincethe arrival of predators and the degradation ofthe forest. In the early years of intensivemanagement, broods of more than two chickswere downsized without question, so there wasnever an opportunity for more than two tofledge.

The 2004/05 season was our last year ofintensive management. It was a culmination ofeverything we knew about manipulating nestsand maximising the survival chances of as manyfertile eggs as possible. Some of the techniqueswe used included:

l Re-hydrating malnourished chicks for 24-48hrs in the hand-rearing nursery beforeplacing them in nests in the wild or captivity.Downsizing broods from 3 to 2 or 1.Swapping broods to ensure siblings withinthe nest were a more even size.Bringing eggs that were developing poorlyinto the hand-rearing nursery so they couldbe monitored and assisted through hatching.Giving females with poor or infertile eggsdummy eggs to keep them broody untilchicks were available for them to foster.

Supplemental feeding sometimes results in large healthy clutches that would not have survived inthe past. Still, this rare nest with four chicks was an unexpected treat.

The chick transfer techniques we used duringthis period were highly refined. Using theCurfew brooder (kindly provided by the WPT)some chicks were kept for 6 or more hoursbefore being placed in new nests. All chicksbeing transferred were given regular feeds ofwarmed Lactated Ringers solution to aid theirhydration.

Taking tiny helpless chicks in our care forfostering was always very satisfying for staff.Transferring the chicks often involved a crazyjourney sometimes including a two hour jeepride followed by an hours walk into theremotest most rugged parts of the Black RiverGorges to a nest. Once there we waited untilthe female exited, allowing us to place the newaddition into her nest. Only strong healthychicks were fostered and we were successful inalmost every attempt. The only unsuccessfulfoster attempt I remember was with a femalewho, having laid infertile eggs, was well past hernormal incubation term (25 days) and lost herbroodiness. She didn't accept the chick.Fortunately we had a second female to use andit just meant the chick spent an afternoon beingtoured around some of the national park enroute to its new home! The second femalereadily accepted it. One of our aims was tofledge plenty of parent-reared chicks andfostering helped ensure this goal was met.

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Both symbolic and stunning, these eightEcho Parakeets represent what mayhave been the total world population ofthe species less than 20 years ago. Inthe beautiful early morning light, theyare now a small part of a thriving flockof over 300, thanks to the success ofthe Echo Parakeet Programme.

Photo: © Shane M

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The recovery and down-listing of the

Echo Parakeetis a tribute to the memory and vision of

Mike Reynolds

By Carl G. JonesScientific Director, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation

When I first started working on the Echo Parakeet in 1979 it was soendangered and its problems seemed so intractable thatconservationists refused to fund its conservation. I was repeatedlytold that the species was un-saveable. In the early 1980s we knewof only 8-12 birds, of which only two or three were females. Thepopulation was breeding very poorly and in most years no young birds were fledged. Atthis time we did not know what was limiting the population and we suspected that theremaining birds were old. The situation was desperate.

It was Mike Reynolds and the World Parrot Trust that came to the rescue. Mike thoughtthe Echo Parakeet was an ideal species for the Trust to work on, to pursue the ideals ofparrot conservation. He told me these were the sorts of cases that the World Parrot Trustwas set up to help.

Not just content to provide money to help run the conservation work, Mike and his wholefamily took a real interest in the work. He and Audrey visited the project to see first-hand how the project functioned and how the Trust could help more effectively. Their sonNick came out to help with the field work as did Kirsty and Dale from Paradise Park.They also sent Pete Haverson who spent many years working on our conservationprogrammes and headed the Echo Parakeet field work for awhile. When we had problemswith the health of our captive birds, Mike arranged for Vet (and World Parrot Trusttrustee) Andrew Greenwood to visit as our veterinary consultant. Andrew not only sortedout our veterinary problems but helped upgrade our management and hand-rearing. TheWorld Parrot Trust also provided some support for Emma Ridgeway who analysed muchof the data we collected on the parakeets.

An important lesson we have learned is that there is no quick fix when it comes tosaving species like the Echo Parakeet. We are grateful to Mike Reynolds for the visionand commitment to begin and to the World Parrot Trust for the long-term support tocontinue. The down-listing of the Echo Parakeet is a great achievement in the history ofparrot conservation and holds many lessons for the future.

I have too many great memories from our"intensive management days" to write aboutthem all, but a few stories give you an idea ofthe kind of work we did over those years.

Zoe is one of my favourite Echos. She is arelease bird and a Camp resident with a nestbox on the edge of the clearing, only 20mfrom the hoppers (feeders). She is a ratherstaunch bird around the hoppers, quite happilysending any other Echos trying to use "her"hopper on their way. And yet with people sheis lovely - very passive and gentle. One day Iwas weighing her chicks which were only a fewdays old. We always wait for the female toleave the nest, usually to be fed by the male,before we access the clutch or brood. I washanging in my harness, in front of the nestbox, with Zoe being fed by Cassidy in thebranches only a few metres away. The littleEcho chicks are normally pretty vocal and as Iweighed the first one Zoe could hear itgrumbling in my weigh container. She wasvery curious and hopped down the branch andup onto my shoulder. My first thought was"Argh she's gonna nail my ear!" but I gave thechick its routine health check while Zoe stayedperched on my shoulder, making soft mewingcalls and peering down at the chick! There wasno sign of aggression towards me or agitation.It was a really nice moment for me.

A few of us have fond memories of the day acouple of the team went to the Styx cavity (wename all our nest sites and chicks based onvarious themes) to discover two dead chicksand one very cold abandoned egg. Anintroduced African Land Snail (Achatina spp)had gotten into the nest (8 m - 26 ft - up atree) and smothered the chicks, asphyxiatingthem with slime. The female, Lagavulin,abandoned the nest. We thought the cold eggwas a goner, but decided to take it to thehand-rearing nursery just in case. I took thebrooder in the jeep and met Anna and Shivaon the main road nearest the nest site. Annaexcitedly told me about how the egg hadbecome a little warmed as they carried it tomeet me and that it was beginning to hatch!What a surprise. We all made the one hourThe Echo Parakeet Team in 1997.

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drive to Black River and then watched inamazement as Ryan, the hand-rearingcoordinator, assisted the chick from the egg ina matter of minutes. Despite this ordeal thechick was fine. Four years later Brimstone, aswe named her, is breeding for the second time.

I always loved watching the males come intothe nest sites down in the gorges. When theEcho chicks are young there is often a wait of4 or more hours between feeds, when themale comes in to feed the female. Sometimesyou would wait for hours to access the nestand weigh the chicks. So it was always a feelingof relief to hear "wack...wack...wack..." (Myimpersonations of calls are not good! But it'sa little like a duck quack only a bit higher inpitch) as the male came in. But the best partwas actually watching him. He would come inat great speed from way up the hill, wingsfolded back and doing a huge high speedspiral down to the nest tree. Only at the lastsecond would he flare out to land in thecanopy. I love watching birds fly and it'salways a thrill to see such displays of mastery.

The techniques that we used to restore theEcho Parakeet are transferable toendangered parrots elsewhere. It istherefore no surprise that personnel whohave worked on the Echo Parakeet projecthave worked, or are now working, onKakapo, Spix Macaw, Lear's Macaw andsome of the endangered Caribbeanamazons. By consulting widely andencouraging a free exchange ofinformation between projects, newtechniques are more easily developed andrefined. While species like the EchoParakeet are going to require some long-term help, their story is a success and aninspiration. During a time when more andmore species are becoming rarer, this is anencouraging example that bucks the trend.

The conservation of the Echo Parakeet hasbeen a collaborative effort. None of the greatsuccess the programme has experienced wouldhave been possible without funding andlogistical support. We are indebted to the manysupporters over the years.

Special thanks to: the National Parks andConservation Service of Mauritius, volunteerswho worked with the Mauritian WildlifeFoundation, the World Parrot Trust, IrelandBlyth Limited, Chester Zoo, Kaytee ProductsInc., Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, DrAndrew Greenwood and his colleagues at theInternational Zoo Veterinary Group, North ofEngland Zoological Society, the ParrotSociety and Loro Parque Fundación.

Protecting naturalnests, aiding chicksand providing foodhoppers and nestboxes has helped theEcho populationrebound dramatically.

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