China to add yellow-breasted bunting to endangered list

By Liu Caiyu

Source:Global Times Published: 2017/12/7 20:53:40

China will add yellow-breasted bunting to its the wild animal protection list "soon," an official said Thursday after media reported plummeting numbers in the last decade.

China is mulling including emberiza aureola, commonly known as the yellow-breasted bunting, for a revised list including a higher degree of endangerment, a department official told the Global Times.

The government official, who insisted on anonymity including the relevant department, did not say when the revised list will be released.

The response came as media reported that non-government organization the International Union for Conservation of Nature upgraded the species to "critically endangered."

"The overall rate of population decline is even greater than previously thought and may have become extremely rapid during the past three generations (11 years)," the union posted on its website. 

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Scientists find egg of bird presumed extinct

WELLINGTON: New Zealand scientists announced on Friday they had found the egg of an endangered bird that was presumed extinct for more than a century. 

Researchers found the New Zealand storm petrel egg on Little Barrier Island, off the northeast of the North Island, a year after the birds were tracked to breeding sites on the island. 

Scientists took the opportunity when the female was off the nest to check the egg, which is expected to hatch in April, and record data, Xinhua reported citing a statement issued by New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) statement. 

"It was exciting to see the egg of a bird once thought to be extinct," Graeme Taylor, DOC principal science advisor, said in a statement leading the team. 

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Endangered Bird Comeback: Invasive food source has snail kite population soaring

Fort Myers, Florida (News-Press) -- One of Florida's most endangered birds is making a comeback in the most exotic of ways, feeding off an invasive critter that feeds mostly off an invasive plant.

Snail kite numbers have jumped statewide from 650 in 2007 to about 1,200 today. While that's only a fraction of the 3,400 birds found here in 1999, the rebound rate has shocked the science world. The next breeding season starts in January, and scientists aren't sure what to expect.

"We have a bird that was in dire straits that is now taking advantage of this proliferation of an exotic species that exploded," said Wiley Kitchens, a biologist and bird expert who conducts research for the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Florida.

"We were looking at almost an eminent extinction," Wiley continued. "That's where we were about four years ago - really, really concerned."

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Socorro dove returns to Mexico for first time in more than 40 years

Socorro Island is the "Most important single site for endangered bird conservation in North America"

October 2013. For the first time in four decades, the critically endangered Socorro Dove has returned to its native country of Mexico, thanks to a captive breeding program involving 33 organizations in 12 countries.

Extinct in the wild in 1972

The Socorro Dove was endemic to Socorro Island on the Revillagigedo Archipelago, approximately 400 miles southwest of the west Mexican city of Puerto Vallarta. The last record of the species in its natural habitat dates from 1972. Introduced mammals likely drove it to extinction through predation and habitat destruction.

113 doves in captivity

Mexico's role in the conservation breeding program was ramped up earlier this year when six Socorro Doves were moved from facilities at New Mexico's Albuquerque BioPark to Africam Safari, located near Mexico City. Today, facilities in Europe, the United States, and now Mexico breed Socorro Doves in their aviaries as part of the globally managed breeding program. Altogether, there are approximately 70 doves in Europe, 37 in the U.S., and six in Mexico.

Dr. Luis Baptista, founder of the Island Endemics Foundation, initiated the Socorro Dove Project in 1987-1988 after corroborating that a viable population existed in human care. The ultimate goal of the project is to return Socorro Doves to Socorro Island. After Baptista's death in 2000, Juan Martínez-Gómez joined the foundation and crafted a collaborative program with the Mexican Navy. By 2004, a breeding station funded by the Island Endemics Foundation and the Mexican Navy had been built on Socorro Island. However, in 2005, concerns about the potential for spreading avian influenza from Europe prevented the return of the doves to Mexico. In order to move closer to the goal of returning the birds to their home country, Socorro Doves bred by zoos participating in the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria's European Endangered Species Program were sent to the Albuquerque BioPark in 2008.

In April 2013, after careful planning with Frank Carlos Camacho, Director of Africam Safari, the conservation breeding program was successfully extended to Mexico. Plans for the reintroduction of Socorro Doves to Socorro Island are underway with the collaboration of SEGOB, SEMAR, and SEMARNAT, along with César Tejeda at Endémicos Insulares, Helen Horblit at the Island Endemics Foundation, Juan Martínez-Gómez at Mexico's Instituto de Ecología (INECOL), and Patricia Escalante at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Institute of Biology.

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THE MOST ENDANGERED BIRD IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S.

THE FIGHT TO SAVE THE FLORIDA GRASSHOPPER SPARROW INSPIRES ALL WHO LOVE WILDLIFE. 

BY TED WILLIAMS

Published: March-April 2013

Predawn, April 8, 2012: Cold and stiff, I crawl out of my tent in Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park—a wilderness island in the sea of asphalt, cement, and drained agricultural land that is south-central Florida. The International Space Station, brighter than the morning star, sweeps across the Milky Way. And far to the west a ragged line of cabbage palms and live oaks is backlit by the nearly full moon. The birds we’re after sing in the early morning, so we need to get moving.

Three hours later, what birders who aren’t fast enough with their field glasses would call an LBJ (little brown job) is in my right hand. Instructed by biologists Paul Miller of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Sandra Sneckenberger of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I have him in the “photographer’s grip”—his legs between my middle finger and pointer, my thumb against his bent knees. His tail is short, his breast buff, his back dark gray and streaked with brown. There’s a splash of yellow at the wing joint, ochre stripes over his eyes. From a distance he hadn’t looked like much. Now I can see that he’s gorgeous.

http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/conservation/most-endangered-bird-continental-us

South Florida bird count finds wood stork in ‘unprecedented decline’

Late in December, about the same time federal wildlife officials were filing notice of their intention to take the wood stork off the endangered species list, wading bird experts at the South Florida Water Management District were finishing a report detailing the plight of the bird after three years of poor nesting.

In the Everglades National Park, “the federally endangered wood stork fared particularly poorly and it is thought that all 820 nests failed or were abandoned,” wrote Mark Cook, a scientist at the district and co-editor of the district’s annual South Florida Wading Bird Report.

There were similar findings at a wood stork rookery at the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority site near Jog Road and 45th Street.

“Of the 57 nests that were monitored over time, 15 were successful,” Rena Borkhataria and Mary Beth Morrison wrote in the report. “In contrast … the probability of a nest surviving for at least 90 days was nearly twice that of 2012.”

The bleakest report came from the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples, where wood storks historically have nested in large numbers. The 2012 nesting season capped five years when the storks failed to breed there. Cook described it as an “unprecedented decline” that could indicate a “serious reduction” in foraging habitat for the wood stork.

The U.S. Department of the Interior published notice Dec. 26 that it intended to reclassify the wood stork from endangered to threatened and asked for public comment on its proposal. According to the department, the down-listing is justified because when the wood stork was put on the endangered list in 1984, the birds lived only in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. However, the wood storks’ breeding range has expanded and they are now also found in North Carolina and Mississippi.

Continued: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional/bird-count-finds-wood-stork-in-unprecedented-decli/nTwCD/

Damage to colony of rare gulls decried

A motorist has allegedly driven on to a colony of 3000 endangered birds, squashing nests and eggs.

The colony of black-billed gulls, one of the most endangered gull species in the world, has been nesting at the Ashburton River.

Environment Canterbury senior biodiversity adviser Frances Schmechel said she understood that the Conservation Department was investigating.

Disturbing protected birds and destroying nests are offences under the Wildlife Act that can result in imprisonment or a fine of $100,000.

"We would strongly support such a move. This sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable," she said.

"Unfortunately, it's not the first time a motorist has driven on to the riverbed and destroyed nests and eggs of a very vulnerable species, which tends to desert its nest if disturbed early in incubation. This is despite prominent ‘endangered bird' signs at a number of locations along the river, including the access point apparently used in this instance."

In 2007, the colony was attacked by vandals who killed more than 100 birds.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7920764/Damage-to-colony-of-rare-gulls-decried

Siena Heights student researching endangered bird

ADRIAN -- A small, green and yellow songbird with a distinct white ring around its eye has become an important part of Siena Heights University student Olivia Smith’s life.

Called the Saipan bridled white-eye, the native of the Mariana Islands in the northern Pacific Ocean is an endangered species thanks to the brown tree snake, introduced to Guam shortly after World War II. The bird no longer exists on Guam and is found only on three other Mariana islands.

Smith, a biology major at Siena, has been studying the bridled white-eye at the Toledo Zoo, where nine of the 24 members of the species in captivity live. The goal is to help the birds successfully reproduce and raise offspring in captivity, a safeguard in case the species goes extinct in the wild.

“What I’m focusing on is the captive (bird) conservation effort,” Smith said.

Continued:  http://www.sooeveningnews.com/article/20121029/NEWS/121029481

DOC appeals for sightings of rare black stilts

As the summer approaches, Twizel's Conservation Department office is on the lookout for some keen bird-watchers.

Community relations ranger Kiersten McKinley said it was particularly interested in any sightings of the black stilt.

"Generally this bird stays in the Mackenzie and Upper Waitaki basins, but they have shown up in places as far south as Dunedin," she said.

"In the past we have trialled radio tracking devices on the birds. However, there were two limitations with this - one is cost and the other is the fact that batteries in the tracking units only lasted 18 months. Technological advancements need to be made in this area; with smaller, lighter and cheaper GPS tracking units being ideal."

The black stilt is one of the most endangered birds in New Zealand, with about 90 adults living in the wild. Every spring, the birds flock to braided rivers to breed. Ms McKinley said the department would be happy to take contributions from local photographers. 

Read on: http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/7837409/DOC-appeals-for-sightings-of-rare-black-stilts

Technology tracks rare birds

Two endangered Baudin's cockatoos are being tracked by scientists in a bid to learn more about their behaviour.

The rehabilitated birds were fitted with satellite tracking devices and released into their Perth Hills habitat last week as part of a trial research project between Murdoch University, the Department of Environment and Conservations (DEC) and Perth Zoo.

Dr Kris Warren and Dr Anne Le Souef from Murdoch's conservation medicine program oversaw the release and are monitoring the cockatoos.

"There is limited information about the daily habits of these birds so we are incredibly excited about the data we're starting to gather in this trial," Dr Warren said.

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"Initial reports are telling us that the birds have been flying around the Kelmscott area where they were released on Friday, and have stuck together, which is good for their continued well-being.

"They have been actively exploring the area within several kilometres around the release site.

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/technology-tracks-rare-birds-20121001-26uz8.html#ixzz285WbYyeY

More information on Baudin's cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus baudinii):

http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=769

The commercialisation of conservation

Photo: Wikipedia

As the kakapo's conservation funding faces a $200,000 cut, Nikki Macdonald explores the debate about commercialisation of conservation.

Boom! Kakapo recovery programme faces $200,000 cut as sponsor seeks to withdraw after 22 years.

That news was conspicuously absent from the pithy updates regularly boomed and skraaarked by Conservation Department spokesbird Sirocco the kakapo, when cash-strapped New Zealand Aluminium Smelters announced it could no longer afford to support his species.

Surprising, given the randy green night parrot - propelled to international YouTube superstardom by trying to mate with zoologist Mark Carwardine's head - is New Zealand's second-most endangered bird.

With a total population of just 125 and a genetic curse requiring intensive breeding management, kakapo need every cent of their $935,556 rescue funds.

Continued:  http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/7716027/The-commercialisation-of-conservation

More information on the kakapo (Strigops habroptila):

http://www.kakaporecovery.org.nz/

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=1492