February 2006
Update on El Oro Parakeet protection programme

Work continues at Buenaventura to protect the El Oro Parakeet. This progress report has been written by Dr Martin Schaefer.

In order to increase the protection of critically endangered birds, Fundación Jocotoco has collaborated with a team of scientists in the study and conservation of the endangered El Oro Parakeet (Pyrrhura orcesi). In 2002, Martin and Veronika Schaefer, Mery Juiña and Cesar Garzon started studying the parakeet population in its sole protected habitat, the Buenaventura reserve in El Oro province. The first two years of that project were funded by different organisations, most notably by Loro Parque Foundation, Tenerife, Spain. In 2005, Loro Parque Foundation renewed its commitment to the project and funded a two-year extension of that project that is now run by Mery Juiña and Cesar Garzon.

Work in the first two years showed that approx. 120 parakeets occur in the vicinity of the reserve. However, only a quarter of these were permanently protected within the reserve. When team members had identified key habitat for the protection of parakeet flocks, Fundación Jocotoco quickly purchased two of these areas with a total area of 260ha, doubling the number of parakeets that are permanently protected. Parakeet flocks had home ranges of 1-3km2 depending on the spatio-temporal fruit supply. Their large home ranges make the protection of remaining forest patches outside the reserve particularly important.

The team therefore concentrated in the second two years on an environmental campaign at local schools and on reforesting pastures. In the environmental awareness campaign a large number of children were taken on excursions to the reserve. Furthermore, different workshops were conducted in the largest town in the vicinity, Piñas. The other aim of the project is to investigate the communal breeding system of the parakeet that was first described by team members in 2003. At present, three active nests are monitored and we are testing the acceptance of artificial nest boxes to increase breeding success.

Fundación Jocotoco gratefully acknowledges the support of Loro Parque Foundation and hopes that this cooperation will continue to secure the future of this and other endangered parrots in Ecuador.