Release of Echo Parakeets in La Vallée de Ferney

The Echo Parakeet, Mauritian endangered bird, has found a new home at La Vallée de Ferney. Also known as ‘grosse câteau verte’, the endemic bird was released on Wednesday 13th April in the unique and exquisite site as part of the ‘Optimising the Ferney Valley as a Mauritian biodiversity conservation and awareness hotspot’ project.  The Echo Parakeet, from its scientific name ‘Psittacula eques’, had disappeared from most of the forests of Mauritius and was, until very recently, confined to the Black River Gorges National Park in the south west of the island. The endangered bird has however found a new home last week at La Vallée de Ferney, nature reserve nestled in the Bambous Mountains on the East Coast of Mauritius, as part of the project: Optimising the Ferney Valley as a Mauritian biodiversity conservation and awareness hotspot. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"15707","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-26421 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"343","height":"310","alt":"La-Vall\u00e9e-de-Ferney1"}}]]With the support of the GEF Small Grants Programme of the United Nations Development Programme, the project has been implemented by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF) in partnership with the Vallée de Ferney Conservation Trust, a public-private partnership between the Government of Mauritius and CIEL Limited and the National Parks and Conservation Service (NPCS). This project is in line with the mission of the NPCS to ensure a sustainable management and restoration of native terrestrial Mauritian Fauna and flora to retain its genetic biodiversity for future generations by improving the quality of 9 ha of forest, providing the habitat and reintroducing endemic bird species (Echo Parakeet, Pink Pigeon, Mauritius Cuckoo-Shrike and Mauritius Paradise Fly-Catcher and managing the existing Mauritius Kestrel population.) Following decades of conservation work carried out by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF), with support from the National Parks and Conservation Service (NPCS), the population, which was estimated to be 8-12 individuals in 1986, recovered to over 700 individuals. This has laid the foundations to creating another sub-population in other remnants of native forests of Mauritius. The reintroduction of the Echo Parakeet at La Vallée de Ferney marks the first step of this process. La Vallée de Ferney was chosen as a suitable site for translocation for many reasons. Firstly there is high quality habitat in the valley and the mountain range that it is part of, and a conservation zone has been set aside, which is being restored to improve the habitat for birds. The valley provides a safe haven for birds to expand into the surrounding Bambous Mountain Range. And the valley is open to the public. This enables them to see the birds and create a greater appreciation of unique Mauritian birds, which also includes the Mauritius Kestrel, which has successfully been re-established in the valley since 1988. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"15706","attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-26420","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"683","height":"268","alt":"La-Vall\u00e9e-de-Ferney"}}]] Present at the releasing ceremony, Arnaud Dalais, Chairman of the Vallée de Ferney Conservation Trust and CIEL Limited stated that “this event is a major and encouraging step in our aim to preserve and enhance the Mauritian biodiversity. We have an ongoing commitment to support the environment and particularly la Vallée de Ferney, the sanctuary of the Mauritian biodiversity.” Deborah de Chazal, Executive Director, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, also expressed her satisfaction with the conservation project at La Vallée de Ferney which, according to her, is growing from strength to strength. “This can only be due to the close collaboration between the owners of the site, funders of the project and the conservation partners including the National Parks and Conservation Service. It is great to see that La Vallée de Ferney is becoming a biodiversity hotspot of threatened Mauritian plants and animals and above all is open for visitors to enjoy.” The captive breeding and first release of Echo Parakeets back into the wild was amongst the first projects the GEF Small Grants Programme that funded MWF back in 1996. The techniques developed then have been used in many other projects and shared with many countries around the world. The total cost of the Ferney conservation project is MRU 19m spread over four years. Funding is provided by the GEF Small Grants Programme - UNDP, CIEL group, and other partners - Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT), North of England Zoological Society (Chester Zoo) and HSBC. In 2016, 29 Echo Parakeets have been released and 16 of them are currently living in La Vallée de Ferney. The aim is to transform La Vallée de Ferney into a healthy and suitable habitat for the Echo Parakeets with a prime objective to reach at least 60 resident breeding birds in the coming years.