Winged Predators and an Ill wind threaten newly fledged Tahiti Monarchs

By Caroline Blanvillan, Mon, 29/02/2016 - 07:29

Half way through, 2015/2016 breeding season has been a record year for the critically endangered Tahiti Monarch.  The good news is that the 53 adults so far this year have, initially, fledged 14 young – with at least one more expected. 

But this year was different in not a good way.  Maybe because of El Niño, there was an ill wind blowing through the valleys.  There was the sudden disappearance of five young after fledging.  BirdLife partner SOP Manu and their illustrious community helpers we left with only nine survivors among the 14 that flew in 2015.

So what has happened? Because no one was able to watch these birds continuously, SOP Manu staff can only speculate on the culprit/s.  They need the services of a real detective.  Something that would challenge Hercule Poirot! 

In 2015 the obvious nest predators - black rat, Myna and blackbirds can be eliminated from the list of suspects. Why? Because there are no more, thanks to rat control by SOP Manu and the trapping of blackbirds over four years by the volunteer network. There are no longer any blackbirds in monarch territories and that is a major reason for the baby boom amongst monarchs over those last few years. Black rats are controlled but still some of small nests are still the scene of a bloody home invasion.  Other flying species like robins are also killed as are even many bulbuls - and they fly and are not normally effected by rats!

Number one suspect is the swamp harrier.  Originally from New Zealand and falsely called hawk in French Polynesia, it was introduced to Tahiti in 1885 by the German consul, with the intention of limiting the number of rats.  From Tahiti, they flew onto other islands severely impacting on the endemic species of those islands without making any difference at all to the populations of rodents that are able to increase the size of their litters to compensate for losses due to predators.   They launch themselves, slalom between trees at full speed, and fall on their prey. The endemic land birds, which have evolved over millions of years in environments free from such aggressive predators, are easy prey.  

Continued …

Orokonui Ecosanctuary to become crèche for rare kiwi

Monday, 9 March 2015, 5:01 pm

Press Release: Department of Conservation

Media release

March 2015

Orokonui Ecosanctuary to become crèche for rare kiwi

A new ‘creche’ facility at Orokonui Ecosanctuary is to welcome its first occupants this month—five critically endangered Haast tokoeka kiwi chicks.

Department of Conservation (DOC) rangers will transfer the kiwi to the ecosanctuary on 17 March. The young birds will be reared in a predator-free enclosure until they are large enough to defend themselves from the biggest threat to their survival—stoats.

“This facility will provide a vital, safe environment where these vulnerable young birds can learn and grow,” says DOC ranger Jacinda Amey.

“Left in their natural home in the Haast Ranges, 95% of these birds would die before they reached adulthood. With a population of just 400, we have to do all we can to give every new bird the best possible chance of survival.”

Read on ...

Shipment of rare birds confiscated in Mindanao

By Manolo B. JaraFebruary 21, 2014

MANILA: A shipment of about 100 exotic animals and birds some of which have been included in the world’s “critically endangered” list has been seized by government agents in Surigao City in volatile Mindanao, according to an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Josefina de Leon, the chief of the DENR wildlife division, disclosed the illegal shipment was the handiwork of an international criminal syndicate engaged in the smuggling of exotic wildlife for sale to rich collectors in the Philippines.

The contraband, De Leon said, was seized by DENR agents in Surigao City, Mindanao while they were about to be loaded into an inter-island vessel bound for Manila.

The driver and a helper of a van that brought the exotic animals and birds to the Surigao port have been arrested and charged for violating the country’s law penalising the illegal transport of wildlife, De Leon said. According to De Leon, the law imposes a penalty of six months in jail and a fine of more than $1,000 depending on the rarity of wildlife involved.

Among the wildlife confiscated were four wallabies from Australia and 90 parrots from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea including yellow-crested cockatoos and long-beaked echidnas listed as “critically endangered species” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Unfortunately, De Leon reported that DENR agents found several of the wildlife already dead apparently due to stress and suffocation as they were placed in small containers.

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/5b2d3083-089e-4ed9-a36c-d550203b4a36.aspx

Australian Endangered Species: Orange-Bellied Parrot (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

If you had to ask an average Australian the name of a threatened bird in this country, many would nominate the Orange-bellied Parrot. Critically endangered, and with fewer than 50 left in the wild, it is justifiably one of Australia’s most well-known endangered species.

Poor little creature. Every year the last birds remaining in the wild leave their breeding grounds at Melaleuca in the remote south-west wilderness of Tasmania to fly to the saltmarshes along the coastline of Victoria and South Australia. And each year hundreds of volunteers go out to count the birds and see how they are faring.

Continued

Critically Endangered parakeets hatched at UK zoo

As few as 250 grey-breasted parakeets, which are native northeast Brazil, are believed to remain in the wild.

Three of the rarest parrots in the world have hatched at Chester Zoo.

October 2013. It's only the second time grey-breasted parakeets have ever been bred in a UK zoo - with both breeding successes being at Chester. 

Just 250 birds left alive

As few as 250 grey-breasted parakeets, which are native to Ceará in northeast Brazil, are believed to remain in the wild. Habitat loss and the illegal pet trade are blamed for their devastating decline. However the new arrivals have given conservationists fresh hope in the fight to haul the species back from the brink.

"These little additions are very significant indeed," said Andy Woolham, Chester Zoo's team manager of parrots and penguins. "Chester is the only zoo that works with grey-breasted parakeets in the UK and we're absolutely thrilled that we've been able to breed them, not least because there is real concern about the long-term future of the species in the wild.

Continued

Rare birds sanctuary to open in Bahrain

Hundreds of exotic birds, including some critically endangered, will go on display for the first time in Bahrain next month at a new sanctuary, a report said.

A blizzard of colour can be seen at Al Aziza Birds Kingdom at Amwaj Islands, which features beautifully plumed birds from the personal collection of leading Bahraini businessman Abdulaziz Kanoo, according to the report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

It houses approximately 400 to 500 winged creatures and will be shown to the public for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The GDN was given an exclusive tour of the facility, where aviculturist in charge Mike Gammond explained about the different species including the exotic toucan and red-vented cockatoo - a critically endangered bird numbering less than 1,000 in the wild.

"The palm cockatoo nests in palm trees and eats palm nuts, hence their name," he said.

"They're from Indonesia and the tip of North Australia. When they're ill, their cheeks change colour and become pale. They absolutely love pomegranates, so when they're ill, we give it to them and the colour comes back into their cheeks."

Rapid bursts of colour are seen at the sanctuary as the birds flock, mate and nest together.

It was the brainchild of Kanoo and Gammond, who breed endangered birds to boost their population and provide buyers with captive-born species in a bid to stop poachers from grabbing birds from the wild.

Continued

First nest ever discovered of one of the world's most endangered birds

Stresemann's Bristlefront nest discovered in Brazil
January 2013. The first known nest of one of the world's rarest birds - the Critically Endangered Stresemann's Bristlefront - has been discovered in Brazil. Of perhaps equal significance is that strong evidence of active nestlings was also found.

Rediscovered in 1995 - May be just 15 birds alive
The Stresemann's Bristlefront is one of the world's most threatened bird species - unrecorded for 50 years until it was rediscovered in 1995 near Una, Bahia, in Brazil's Atlantic Forest region. The world population estimate is fewer than 15 individuals. Its population is declining owing to fires, logging, and the clearance of humid valley-floor forest for cattle ranching and agriculture.

Nest tunnel
On October 30, 2012, Dimas Pioli and Gustavo Malacco, two Brazilian researchers visiting Fundação Biodiversitas' Mata do Passarinho Reserve discovered the bird's nesting tunnel entrance, a tennis ball sized hole, located about three feet from the ground in an exposed dirt vertical edge that contained overhanging vegetation. Nesting tunnels are typical for the ground dwelling Tapaculo family, to which the Bristlefront belongs. The hole is estimated to be approximately six feet deep. It was surveyed and filmed with a micro-camera and further data should be published shortly in an ornithological journal.

Probable chicks
"This is the discovery of a lifetime made all the more gratifying by the fact that not only have we found live adult birds, but we have also found strong evidence of several chicks as well," said Alexandre Enout, the Reserve's Manager. "It is urgent that we protect more of the natural Atlantic Forest in this area and reforest areas where forest has been lost. The best way to save this species is by increasing its potential habitat."

Stresemann's Bristlefront

The 8-inch long, medium-sized, long-tailed bird has distinctive, long, pointed forehead bristles and a slender dark bill. The female is cinnamon-brown above, with duskier tail and is a bright cinnamon-rufous below.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/stressmans-bristlefront.html

In captivity, rare birds suffer empty nests

U. SHEFFIELD (UK) — Critically endangered birds often fail to reproduce in captivity or the wild, but new methods may make it easier for scientists to keep these species going.

The newly developed methods allow experts to tell the difference between infertility and very early embryo death—something that has never been done before in endangered species.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield’s department of animal and plant sciences believe their new method of assessing egg fertility, ensuring pairs are sexually compatible, and the males are producing enough sperm could save bird species on the brink of extinction.

Continued:  http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/in-captivity-rare-birds-suffer-empty-nests/

Experts hail rare sandpiper success

Twenty critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper chicks have been successfully bred in captivity in Britain and released into the wild. 

A team of British and Russian ornithologists collected the eggs from remote breeding grounds in the Russian Far East and brought them back to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, for incubation.

Nine spoon-billed sandpipers were also successfully reared in the village of Meinypil'gyno, in the Chukotsk peninsula.

All the birds were then released as fledglings to make their 4,971-mile (8,000km) migration to Burma.

The conservationists hope their work will ensure the survival of the rare species, which is unique in the animal kingdom for being born with a spoon-shaped beak.

There are thought to be fewer than 100 breeding pairs of spoon-billed sandpipers left in the world.

In recent years they have been declining steadily and it is thought they could be extinct within five to 10 years.
Continued: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5inFUWsgRIumN6LZYLeoCJDjCBj3w?docId=N0493261349001473367A

Local Funding Supports Open Access Sequencing of the Puerto Rican Parrot Genome

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) — The critically endangered Puerto Rican Parrot (Amazona vittata) is the only surviving parrot species native to the United States. A genomic sequencing project, funded by community donations, has published September 28, in BioMed Central and BGI's open access journal GigaScience, the first sequence of A. vittata, the first of the large Neotropical Amazona birds to be studied at the genomic level.

Photo: Wikipedia

The Puerto Rican Parrot was once abundant throughout Puerto Rico but destruction of old forest habitats to make way for farming in the 19th Century resulted in a drastic decline in their population. By the mid 1970's only a handful of individuals were thought to remain. Captive breeding programs in Rio Abajo and El Yunque and the release of these birds have had some success, but the number of these birds in the wild is still very low.

In a unique initiative (developing of the Local Community Involvement), funded entirely by contributions from the communities of Puerto Rico alongside staff and students from the Biology Department of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, researchers collaborated internationally to sequence this beautiful parrot.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120928085352.htm

more information on the Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata):

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=1666

Critically Endangered Orange-bellied parrot mystery

The ‘Orange' Pimpernel? - Disappearing parrot intrigues recovery team

September 2012. With a wild population of less than 50, it's not surprising that the location of a summer hide-out used by a male Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) is of great interest to the team trying to save the species from extinction.

Credit Chris Tzaros of Birds Australia

Where does the bird go in the breeding season?
In its 2012 update, the Orange-bellied Parrot recovery team has revealed that an eight year old male bird, seen during Winter around Victoria's Port Phillip Bay, has not been seen for several seasons at the only known breeding site for the species at Melaleuca on Tasmania's west coast.

Recovery Team member Peter Menkhorst, from the Department of Sustainability and Environment's (DSE) Arthur Rylah Institute (ARI) said: "We have been aware of this bird since he was banded as a juvenile at Melaleuca in the summer of 2004/05 and he has been seen in Victoria over several winters, but we still don't know where he goes during the breeding season. With such small numbers in the wild it is of great interest to the recovery team to find out if there is another, previously unknown, site where this species breeds," Mr Menkhorst said.

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/orange-parrot-breeding.html

More information on the orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chysogaster):

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=1485