Finn’s weaver faces a risk of extinction

by Deepanwita Gita Niyogi on 23 June 2020

The Finn’s weaver, a lesser-known weaver bird species, currently listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, is in fact at the risk of extinction, according to the Bombay Natural History Society.

The bird prefers the Terai grasslands, found widely in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, but the landscape in these states has undergone changes due to conversion for agriculture and development.

The Uttar Pradesh forest department has initiated a Finn’s weaver conservation and breeding programme in the Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Finn’s weaver (Ploceus megarhynchus) is listed as vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. However, the bird is at the risk of extinction, alerts the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) a wildlife research organisation in India that is looking to update the bird’s IUCN listing.

According to BNHS director Deepak Apte, the status of the bird is extremely precarious with real threat of extinction. “We have released a species recovery plan and are trying our best to list the species in the IUCN Red List as a Critically Endangered species. We are also working closely with respective state governments where the species is found, as well as with the government of India,” Apte told Mongabay-India via email.

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Kaikōura's new freedom camping site could spell disaster for threatened bird species

Emma Dangerfield 12:44, Jan 10 2019

The plight of the banded dotterel

ALISA HOWARD

It's as vulnerable as the great spotted kiwi, but gets nowhere near the same attention.

The Kaikōura District Council has been criticised for establishing a freedom camping area at a significant breeding site for an endangered bird species.

Ailsa Howard, who has been monitoring the banded dotterel (pohowhera) at South Bay for four years, said the council's "lack of action" on freedom camping was putting the nationally vulnerable birds at risk.

The council set up a working group last year after the number of freedom campers on Kiwa Rd, near popular surf spot Mangamaunu, increased dramatically. The council has encouraged people not to camp there this summer so the area can recover from the environmental degradation caused by heavy use last summer.

The entrance sign alerts campers to the dotterels, but many are still unaware, researcher Ailsa Howard says.

The working group considered 50 alternative sites, but ultimately recommended the South Bay site – along with a smaller campsite on Scarborough St and a third south of Kekerengu – all of which were advertised on the council's website as "responsible freedom camping" spots available from December.

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Threatened bird at risk of NSW dam wall

The vulnerable-listed painted honeyeater has been found in the same area which could be flooded under the NSW government's plan to raise Warragamba Dam wall.

Dominica Sanda

Australian Associated PressDECEMBER 13, 20187:07PM

Another threatened species has been found in the same area which could be flooded under the NSW government's plan to raise Warragamba Dam wall.

The vulnerable-listed painted honeyeater was discovered by Australian National University researcher Ross Crates last week in the Burragorang Valley which sits within the Blue Mountains National Park.

Mr Crates says the bird is rarely seen that close to Sydney or the coast and suggests they are most likely seeking drought refuge.

"If they start losing their drought refuge due to the dam proposal, it's not going to end well," he told AAP on Thursday.

The plan to raise the dam wall by about 14 metres will see the area flooded through a "controlled release" of water which Mr Crates says will mean the species will lose its habitat alongside the critically endangered regent honeyeater which was found to breed in the area.

The valley is the third known location throughout NSW, northern Victoria and southern Queensland that the painted honeyeater has been found, he added.

Although they aren't as at risk as the regent honeyeater, Mr Crates warns they could end up in the same position if they keep losing their habitat.

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New Zealand king shags 'doomed' if plummeting population continues

ROB DAVIDSON/SUPPLIED

A new colony at Tawhitinui Bay, a fairly sheltered part of Te Hoiere/Pelorus Sound, actually gained about 22 birds in the last three years.

A vulnerable rare bird species has lost a quarter of its population in three years, prompting a slew of theories and calls for reclassification.

A second aerial king shag census has recorded a large drop in the number of birds in the Marlborough Sounds, down to 634, which is about 200 fewer than the first census in 2015.

The drastic drop in just three years has residents, industry bosses and conservationists worried about whether aquaculture, climate change or other causes are to blame.

Ornithologist Rob Schuckard said in his report on the census most of the 12 breeding colonies, which are only found in the Marlborough Sounds, had shrunk by an average of 24 per cent.

The largest colony at Duffers Reef, in the outer Te Hoiere/Pelorus Sound had lost about 85 birds, he revealed in the report.

However the Tawhitinui colony, also in Te Hoiere/Pelorus Sound gained about 22 birds, while the Ruakaka-Blackwood colony in the Queen Charlotte Sound gained five, calculated using averages numbers from three different assessors.

The new results were at odds with expert advice given at aquaculture resource consent hearings in previous years about the stability of the population, despite increasing industry in the Sounds.

The census was commissioned by New Zealand King Salmon (NZKS), which agreed to check the population every three years as part of resource consent conditions for its Waitata and Kopua salmon farms.

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100 MacQueen's Bustards smuggled in Iranian ship

Earlier this month, coast guards in Kuwait intercepted a ship attempting to smuggle 100 Asian MacQueen's Bustards Chlamydotis macqueenii, recognized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The species is threatened by hunting and trapping throughout its range, particularly in its wintering habitat of Pakistan and Iran. The bird is in high demand in the region for use as live prey in falconry training.

In a press statement issued by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior, the Public Relations and Security Media Department explained that the Coast Guard Department was inspecting foreign ships that were heading to Doha Port, when they discovered the Iranian ship with its load of birds. Also discovered on board were 16 falcons of various species, mostly Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus. 

Kuwait Environment Protection Society (KEPS– BirdLife International’s Kuwaiti partner) investigated the case and confirmed that all the birds on board had been poached from the wild and were being transported without any legal documents. The offenders are currently in custody and will be dealt with according to Kuwaiti law. Commenting on the issue, Wejdan Al-Oqab, KEPS Secretary General, says “There are hundreds of birds, including MacQueen's Bustard and eagles, illegally killed every year”. 

“We are working hard to protect threatened animal populations and work closely with law enforcement agencies to protect biodiversity and enforce national and international wildlife laws to ensure that the trade of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival”. 

Numbers of MacQueen's Bustard have fallen dramatically in recent decades. The species is threatened by a number of factors, including the degradation of their vegetation habitat by livestock grazing, but hunting remains the biggest threat to its future. 

The species is protected under international wildlife treaties. The Asian MacQueen's Bustard is roughly the same size as a turkey and typically has a large, speckled sandy brown upper body, a creamy white underside and long legs, a slender neck and a wingspan that can reach 1.5 meters. Its colouring acts as camouflage in the desert and sandy plains, providing a challenge for hunters and their falcons. 

The MacQueen's Bustard is the game bird of choice for Arab falconers, because it is a good match for the falcons. There is such strong demand for the bird in the region that some hunters are willing to use illicit means to acquire them. 

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Newly born, the Desertas Petrel turns into one of Europe’s conservation challenges: are we ready for it?

Published by surfbirds on August 7, 2014 courtesy of BirdLife International

The 2014 Red List of Birds update gives birth to a new European species, the Desertas Petrel, classified as Vulnerable.

The first time I heard about the Desertas Petrel, all I wanted to do was to climb on the peak of Bugio, one of the Desertas islands part of the Madeira archipelago in Portugal, where the bird breeds, and see this funny little pal with my own eyes.

What I didn’t know while climbing up was that Bugio would offer me an unforgettable wildlife experience: the red rock of the cliffs gives way to a plateau, 342m above sea level, with no trees or shrubs, but hundreds of seabird nests. As the birds were spending their day at sea or guarding their deep nesting burrows, we could only see them at night – at the time, we didn’t have burrowscopes that would allow us to look inside burrows during daylight.

That was back in 2003 and we believed that the petrels on Bugio were the same species as those breeding in Cape Verde, so-called “Fea’s Petrel”.

Read on ...

Bird banded in Dominican Republic found in Vermont

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Though its natural habitat is shrinking in the Caribbean, a brownish-gray songbird twice discovered on top of Vermont's highest mountain is giving scientists hope.

Just weeks ago, researchers identified a Bicknell's Thrush on Mount Mansfield that had been banded in the Dominican Republic while wintering there in 2010. It was the second time since 2010 that the bird had been captured on the mountaintop as part of research.

"The chances of that are amazingly small and to have that happen is not only just remarkable and very cool ... it's really compelling because it shows you that we have to pay attention to both ends of this bird's range if we're going to conserve it," said Chris Rimmer, executive director of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies.

The vulnerable species has an estimated population of 100,000 worldwide. The migratory birds nest and breed in coniferous forests in northern New England, the Adirondacks and eastern Canada, then fly south to winter in the Caribbean.

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RSPB uses drone to keep watch on Britain's vulnerable birds

Conservation charity's remotely controlled device safeguards reintroduced species and monitors endangered breeds

Matthew Weaver

The Guardian, Sunday 11 May 2014 17.52 BST

Military technology used to hunt down insurgents in Afghanistan has been taken up by Britain's biggest nature conservation charity to safeguard some of the country's rarest birds.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is using a remotely controlled drone to spy on the nests of endangered breeds and monitor the progress of reintroduced species.

It was created by Nigel Butcher, the charity's answer to James Bond's lethal gadget inventor Q, at its new Centre for Conservation Science in Sandy, Bedfordshire. "A lot of our stuff filters down from military use," Butcher said. "We built the 'copter about a year ago and have added bits and pieces to it since, like radio tracking, thermal imaging and wide-angle cameras."

Breeding patterns of bitterns and marsh harriers can be seen without disturbing precious habitat, and the RSPB is also using the drone to monitor how cranes and corncrakes are faring as they are reintroduced to the UK.

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New research database to track six penguin species

Little is known about penguin foraging zones

April 2013. Penguins need all the public support they can get. Of the 18 species, 15 are considered globally threatened or Near Threatened. Work to conserve them is hampered by the patchy nature of the data on where penguins go when away from their breeding grounds. To fill in these important gaps, BirdLife International and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research have joined the British Antarctic Survey to compile a "tracking database" on six penguin species. The project is funded by the UK Government's Darwin Initiative.

chinstrap penguin

There have been numerous penguin tracking studies, but the results have never been brought together in one place. The database will collate existing data on Chinstrap and King, Adélie and Gentoo (both Near Threatened), Macaroni and Southern Rockhopper (both globally Vulnerable) penguins in the Weddell and Scotia Seas of Antarctica, as well as the waters around South Georgia.

Albatross and petrel database

BirdLife already manages the world's largest seabird tracking database. The Global Procellariiform Tracking Database, which brought together the work of all the world's experts on albatrosses and petrels, has been crucial in informing marine management decisions, particularly in relation to longline fisheries.

Penguins are excellent indicators of key marine habitats. The places where they forage are, generally speaking, also important for other marine predators like seals and whales. Once identified, areas on the high seas that prove to be important for penguins can be added to BirdLife's directory of marine Important Bird Areas (IBAs). In turn, they may be added to the list of ecologically or biologically significant areas for conservation (EBSAs), as candidates for marine Protected Areas.

Southern rockhopper penguin

80% decline

"Some penguin species have undergone declines of up to 80% in recent years", said Ben Lascelles, BirdLife's Global Marine IBA Officer. "Better protection of their marine habitats is vital to build resilience into hard-hit populations. By bringing the existing penguin tracking data together and identifying candidate areas for protection, this project should be able to deliver major bangs-for-the-buck in marine conservation terms".

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/penguin-tracking.html

Imperiled Birds To Benefit From Land Purchase In Key Peruvian National Reserve

Friday, November 30, 2012 - by American Bird Convervancy

The critically endangered Iquitos Gnatcatcher, and the vulnerable Allpahuayo Antbird and Mishana Tyrannulet are three of the bird species that will benefit from the purchase of more than 1,100 acres of private inholdings within Peru’s Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve by ProNaturaleza (a leading Peruvian conservation organization) in collaboration with American Bird Conservancy (ABC).

SERNANP - the Peruvian agency in charge of protected areas - has now published three resolutions accepting the donation of 55 pieces of land totalling more than 2,370 acres (including 1,270 acres previously purchased by ProNaturaleza and ABC) as part of the Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve. The reserve, which is located only 15 miles from the city of Iquitos in northern Peru, contains rare white-sand forests called varillales and is home to 20 species of neotropical migrant birds as well as a variety of rare and unique plants and animals.

Continued:  http://www.chattanoogan.com/2012/11/30/239595/Imperiled-Birds-To-Benefit-From-Land.aspx

Rare bird indeed: Count reveals scrub jay among rarest in US

There are far fewer island scrub jays than previously thought, a new calculation of their population size finds. The new count makes them one of the 10 rarest songbirds in the continental United States.

Previous work overestimated their population by fivefold, according to the new study, published in the October issue of the journal Ecological Applications. This overestimate was caused by incomplete sampling, according to a statement from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, whose scientists co-authored the study.

The striking blue bird lives exclusively on California's Santa Cruz Island. Despite the reduced population estimate, its numbers have grown slowly in the past few decades thanks to the removal of non-native pigs, sheep and cows that destroy the birds' habitat.

The study estimates that there are 2,500 scrub jays living in the wild. The scientists counted jays at more than 300 locations on the island and used a computer model to fill gaps in their data. Using vegetation maps, they found the birds were most prevalent in areas dominated by scrub oak trees.

As a result of this study, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has changed the island scrub jay's status from near-threatened to the higher-risk category of vulnerable, according to the statement. Threats to the bird's small population include restricted island range, lack of genetic diversity, West Nile virusand loss of habitat to oak disease and wildfire.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49823936/#.UKTndeRp2Z8

Protecting native birds by manipulating rats' sense of smell

The researchers manipulated the rats' sense of smell to keep them from preying on vulnerable species. Credit: Mal Weerakoon (Phys.org)—Rats' keen sense of smell can be exploited to dramatically reduce their attacks on native birds, researchers from the University of Sydney have shown. The technique could be adapted to protect vulnerable species worldwide. Ads by Google AFM Meets Raman - Bruker solutions combine AFM and Raman without compromise - www.bruker-axs.com "Introduced black rats (Rattus rattus) are a major threat to the conservation of many bird species worldwide so a new method for reducing their impact is good news for conservation," said Dr Catherine Price, a Research Associate from the University's School of Biological Sciences.

Price is the lead author of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 16 October. Professor Peter Banks, also from the University's School of Biological Sciences was the other contributing author. "Working with wild populations of black rats in the bushland of Sydney Harbour and Lane Cove National Parks in NSW we discovered that we could increase the survival of birds' eggs without removing a single rat. "An added advantage of this method is that it is not lethal to the predator. That means it is especially suited to protecting a vulnerable prey species when the predator is also endangered or under threat," Price said.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-10-native-birds-rats.html#jCp