By Mike
Britton, Wed, 28/10/2015 - 21:21
The
decline of the Tahiti Monarch is being reversed by ongoing and intensive action
by BirdLife French Polynesian partner Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie (SOP
MANU) and the local community. For the first time in many years the
population has topped 50 birds with 17 pairs incubating 31 nests
last summer and fledging 12 chicks. Small gains but with a species so
close to extinction, this is a welcome outcome.
It
is currently restricted to 4 lowland valleys where it is threatened by
degradation of it habitat, black rats and the introduced Red-vented Bulbul and
Common Myna which prey on eggs, chicks and compete for food and habitat.
To add to their woes, Little Fire Ant is now spreading into the valleys.
Botanical
pest Miconia calvescens,
introduced in 1937, has replaced the high dense forest in one of its key
habitats. This decline is likely to continue as the other forest habitat
is largely composed of introduced invasive species, such as the African
tulip tree Spathodea campanulata,
and usually confined to a narrow strip along the floor of steep basalt canyons.
With
all these threats the growing recognition by the local people of the icon
status of Tahiti Monarch and their support for its conservation has been
critical in reversing the population decline. They help to maintain 396
rat control stations and control and monitor mynas and bulbuls. More than 280
volunteers/day and 15 landowners/day went to remove Miconia, Triplaris and
other invasive introduced plants during 27 one day fieldtrips in one
year. Volunteers, land owners and children at the local school have
grown 529 seedlings of ‘useful’ trees and shrubs for Tahiti Monarch.
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