Echo Foundation Bonaire

Echo is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the Yellow-shouldered Amazon Parrot in the wild, on Bonaire. Echo’s goal is to ensure a stable and growing population of the Yellow-shouldered Amazon Parrot. We hope to achieve this by:

• Reducing the poaching of chicks for the local and international pet trade.
• Restoring the dry-forest habitat that the parrots call home.
• Reducing habitat degradation by non-native species such as donkeys, goats, and pigs.

We conduct research and monitoring to guide our conservation management and outreach efforts and to assess the impact of our work. We focus on:

• Parrot population monitoring using yearly roost counts, nest monitoring, and ring re-sighting. The annual roost count is conducted simultaneously by volunteers each January. Nest monitoring involves climbing large trees or abseiling down to nests in cliff faces to record productivity. To re-sight ringed or known birds and estimate survival, we conduct observations at parrot ‘hot spots’ and photograph breeding birds at nests.
• The status and changes in parrot habitat and terrestrial bird populations resulting from introduced herbivores and management actions to restore Bonaire’s dry forest.
• Ecological, economic, and social reasons for parrot-human conflict through door-to-door surveys of the local population.
• Monitoring the impact of our conservation management and outreach efforts.

We work to inspire people and bring about a positive shift in attitudes towards the Yellow-shouldered Amazon parrot, known locally on Bonaire as the ‘Lora’.