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  The St. Lucia Parrot, also known as the Jacquot, lives on the island of St. Lucia in the eastern Caribbean. Although these parrots are over a foot long and boast beautiful multi-colored feathers in shades of cobalt, turquoise, emerald, maroon, orange and scarlet, they are hard to spot in the forest canopy where they live.
St. Lucia Parrots feed off the seasonal fruits, seeds, and foliage that surround them in the forest. As a way of communicating with each other, they make soft noises while they eat and, if they sense danger, they will screech loudly as a warning and fly away. St. Lucia Parrots are very shy and rarely seen in the wild, but they can occasionally be spotted flying across the Quilesse, Millet and Edmund forests. Like many other bird species, St. Lucia Parrots lay their eggs in the spring. The mother will lay one or two eggs in the bottom of a cavity in an old tree and then sit on them for about 28 days. When the chicks hatch, they are blind, bald, and need their parents to provide them food and protection. Both parents care for the young chicks during this stage of complete dependence. After about 60 days, the chicks have developed enough to search for their own food. By the time they are 4 years old, St. Lucia Parrots begin to breed their own young. Much like human beings, mates must be compatible to stay together and successfully breed, and many pairs last for life, which is about 30 years. Unfortunately for this beautiful, unique species, a combination of threats from human beings and nature place their long-term survival in peril. Deforestation has left many parrots without homes, and uncontrolled hunting of the birds for food and trade brought them near extinction many years ago. Hurricanes, which cannot be prevented, have also been responsible for decreases in many parrot populations, because birds get swept out to sea by high winds. Laws have been passed in St. Lucia to protect the St. Lucia Parrots, but there is still a lot of work to do to rebuild the population. Currently, there are about 500 parrots living in the wild. While attempts to breed chicks in captivity have had moderate success, these parrots need strong educational outreach and protection efforts to guarantee their long-term survival.
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