The Saint Lucia Parrot

The Saint Lucia amazon, called the jacquot locally, is green with a blue face and a red breast and lives only in the island's central rainforest. By the mid-1970s hunting, the pet trade and habitat loss had cut it to somewhere around a hundred birds. What turned it round was less enforcement than persuasion: a conservation programme built around making the parrot a national symbol, taught in schools and put on the flag of the forestry department, alongside a hunting ban and habitat protection. The population is now well over a thousand. It is one of the more convincing conservation stories in the region.

What you actually see

• The jacquot - green with a blue face and red breast, found only here.
• The Millet trail - the most accessible reserve for seeing them.
• Dawn and dusk flights - when pairs move and call across the valleys.
• The recovery story - built on national identity as much as enforcement.

When to go

December to April is the drier season. Dawn and the hour before dark are when the birds move and call. The Millet reserve above Roseau is the most accessible site and the easiest to arrange. A forestry guide is compulsory in the reserves.

Honest expectations

Parrots are heard far more often than seen, and a morning can pass with calls and no sighting. Guides are compulsory in the reserves and the fee applies. Trails are muddy in every season. The recovery is real but the population remains small enough that a hurricane or a disease outbreak could undo it.

Nearby

The Millet reserve is above Roseau; Edmund is above Soufrière.