With a squawk, they fly a tentative loop pattern through the air, a few at a time, then head out into the forest on wildly flapping wings. As reports from other stations come in, the preliminary results suggest that the parrot population is still on an upward trend. Bobb believes that about 500 exist today, and he's encouraged by increasingly frequent sightings in mountains north of the island's central forest reserve. Despite that good news, the team has discovered that the number of successfully fledged chicks has plateaued, and, says Snyder, many parrots fail either to lay eggs or rear chicks. So far, the key to their population rise has been a reduction in adult deaths, attributed to the shooting ban.
Enforcement is easy when everyone with a gun in the forest is illegal.
But there is a new view of parrots, too. There really has been a turnaround. People appreciate birds a lot more. Lucians may further come to appreciate the parrot for the role it is playing in ecotourism. Already more than 4,000 tourists a year take guided hikes along the Edmond Forest trail in the rain-forest reserve, and two newer trails have been developed.