Psittacula eques echo
The echo is one of just nine surviving bird species that are found only on the tiny island of Mauritius, where they exist in alarmingly small populations. Year-round conservation efforts for the echo parakeet started in 1987. Efforts are focused on native forest restoration (weeding of aggressive introduced plants) and active hands-on management techniques.
For the wild birds, supplemental food, artificial nest boxes and the reduction of introduced predators have resulted in significant increases in productivity in the wild. In captivity, breeding results until 1993 were poor primarily due to poorly understood dietary requirements and disease. Since then captive breeding results have improved dramatically. Not only are the birds breeding in captivity, but selected eggs are pulled from the wild (the parakeets will lay a second clutch), as a method of increasing productivity. With a secure captive population, priority will go to continued captive breeding, manipulation of wild nests, and re-introduction as a means of increasing the wild population to a self-sustainable level.
The island of Mauritius and its endangered bird species have been a training ground for our Canada’s New Noahs for over 20 years.
Description
The Echo Parakeet is similar to the common Indian Ring-necked parakeet (P. krameri) found in North American pet stores, but darker green and larger. Echo Parakeets measure 35 to 42 cm, with males weighing 150 g and females weighing 170 g. Beak colour is red in the adult male and recently fledged young, and black in the adult female. The Echo Parakeet feeds almost exclusively on native trees, eating buds, shoots, leaves, flowers, seeds, bark, sap and especially fruit. Echo Parakeets remain together in pairs throughout the year and may be seen billing (courtship feeding) in most, if not all, months. The breeding season is in spring, with 1-3 eggs laid and incubated for 23 to 26 days before hatching. Chicks fledge about 60 days after hatching.
Habitat
Native only to the Mascarene Island of Mauritius in the western Indian Ocean, and widely distributed throughout the island. Studies in the wild show that the echo is strictly an arboreal forager (finding its food up in the trees) that nests in natural cavities found in trees, never, or rarely, descending to the forest floor.
Distribution and Population Size
Currently, the wild population is found in a 50 square kilometre area in the mountainous region of the Black River Gorges in southwestern Mauritius. Down to 10-12 known wild birds in 1986, it is the rarest parakeet in the world. The recovery program has boosted the wild population up to an estimated 130 echoes, and the species’ chance of survival continues to improve, but we still have a long struggle ahead to get it off the critical list.
Threats to Survival
Predation of nests by introduced predators such as rats, mongoose, macaques and feral cats; competition for food and nest cavities with introduced birds; limited habitat range coupled with degraded native forest; natural disasters such as cyclones; disease carried by non-native birds.
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