another endangered species [Archive]

kenny

01-23-2007, 10:45 PM

http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_puerto_rican_nightjar.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_puerto_rican_nightjar.html&width=&caption=) Rafy Rodriguez
Puerto Rican Nightjar is listed as Critically Endangered. Less than 2000 individuals are thought to remain.
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_puerto_rican_nightjar.html&width=400&caption=Puerto Rican Nightjar Caprimulgus noctitherus is listed as Critically Endangered. Less than 2000 individuals are thought to remain.) Windfarm permit "seriously contradicts" Endangered Species Act

04-01-2007
A proposed windfarm in the Karso del Sur Important Bird Area (IBA), Puerto Rico, could wipe out five percent of the global population of the Critically Endangered Puerto Rican Nightjar Caprimulgus noctitherus.
The proposal, which has been strongly condemned by Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña (SOPI, BirdLife in Puerto Rico), is the latest in a series of windfarm proposals around the world which threaten bird populations of conservation importance.
The Karso del Sur IBA is the most important remaining stronghold for Puerto Rican Nightjar, which has been reduced to a global population of 1,400-2,000 individuals. The affected areas inside the IBA are Punta Verraco, Cerro Toro and Punta Ventana in the municipality of Guayanilla. They lie within the internationally recognised Man and Biosphere Reserve of Guánica, from which they are separated only by a barbed wire fence.
“The most significant repercussion of the development of this industrial complex will be the land displacement, which could impact 40 of the 46 identified territories of this ground nesting species,” said SOPI spokesperson Luis Silvestre. “The WindMar Renewable Energy project will incidentally wipe out around five percent of the Puerto Rican Nightjar total population.”
“Approving the incidental take permit demonstrates a serious contradiction and lack of respect for the Endangered Species Act" —Joel Franqui Gil de Lamadrid, President of the Puerto Rican Ornithological Society
The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently approved an “incidental take” permit for the WindMar project in Guayanilla. This permit requires a Habitat Conservation Plan but allows the company to incidentally impact or cause harm to the endangered species without any penalty. The already endangered species that will be affected but which are “protected” under the Endangered Species Act (1973) are Puerto Rican Nightjar, Roseate Tern Sterna dougalli and Brown Pelicans Pelecanus occidentalis.
“Approving the incidental take permit demonstrates a serious contradiction and lack of respect for the Endangered Species Act that was established specifically to protect these most vulnerable of birds” remarked Joel Franqui Gil de Lamadrid, President of the Puerto Rican Ornithological Society.
SOPI and the Guayanilla community group Comité Pro Costa Ventana (Committee for the Conservation of Ventana Coast) are proposing that the lands be acquired by the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, and added to the biosphere reserve of Guánica, so that a co-management plan can be established to conserve the natural resources as well as benefiting the local community.
Climate change is perhaps the most serious threat to the world’s biodiversity, damaging the last remaining habitats of threatened species, and causing catastrophic breeding failures amongst seabirds as rising sea temperatures drive the plankton their prey species depend on to colder waters. BirdLife considers that in many parts of the world, wind has the greatest potential of all renewable energy sources, but believes that windfarm proposals should be treated on a case-by-case basis to establish that there will be no negative impact on wildlife.

kenny

02-03-2007, 04:10 PM

hi all
paul here is an L B J for you

Help wanted for the ailing house sparrow

Friday 02 February 2007

Our countryside commentator John Sheard frets over the fate of the common or garden house sparrow, once Britain's most numerous bird, which has now been "Red listed" as a species in dangerous decline
BACK in the mists of time, when the dinosaurs had just stopped roaming the earth and I had to attend Sunday school ever week, I vividly remember being told that God saw every sparrow that fell. Back home, I wondered how He could cope because the roofs of our outbuildings were knee deep in the little blighters. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of them.
The ordinary, common-or-garden sparrow is no strutting celebrity of the avian world. Birds of prey with their swooping dives and vicious talons; colourful kingfishers and glittering goldfinches; majestic swans and soaring swallows; these are the glamour-pusses of the skies. Your old cock sparrow rarely gets a look in the feathered fashion stakes.
http://www.daelnet.co.uk/images/weekend/02022007_large.jpg
Help wanted for the ailing house sparrow
Photo: www.bto.org (http://www.bto.org/)
But this perky little fellow has gone into one of the steepest population dives in British ornithological history. In some areas its population has halved in just a few years. That means the deaths - or rather, non-births - of millions of creatures.
The situation is so bad that it has now gone into the conservationists' Red Book, the list of species whose future prospects are on the critical list unless something it done to turn it round. And this week, one of Britain's premier conservation charities, the British Trust for Ornithology, issued an appeal for public help in doing just that.
February 14, St Valentine's Day, marks the beginning of National Nest Box Week, when householders are asked to buy or make nesting boxes in their gardens for species like the house sparrow and the blue tit. The reason: there is a nationwide shortage of starter-homes for young avian couples which like to live in holes.
As woodland near towns is constantly felled to make ay for new building developments, dying trees full of agreeable little niches are in critically short supply. Gardeners, spurred on by TV programmes, fell trees and large shrubs the minute they look a tad poorly. So another source of supply is drying up.
Television is also making matter worse in another direction: housing makeovers. Young people moving into old properties tend to "do them up" - and that often means filling in holes under the eaves which may have been nesting spots for sparrows for generations. And modern building techniques leave no holes whatsoever in new houses.
There also is another problem caused by modern lifestyles. With more people living alone, and anti-fouling laws being applied with vigour on urban streets, the cat is believed to have overtaken the dog as Britain's most popular pet. And although many cat owners are in denial on this, their pets kill hundreds of thousands of sparrows every year.
So what to do? The BTO has plenty of advice on how we can help all wild birds, which give us hours of pleasure and cost us virtually nothing. Our old cock sparrow might be a dowdy little fellow but his antics - particularly at this time of the year as mating approaches - can fascinate as we stand at the kitchen sink or prepare for summer in the potting shed.
So please put up a nest box or, better still, a nest terrace - which is a long, thin box with several compartments so that sparrows can breed in small colonies as they had done for hundreds of years, ever since they set up home as our neighbours! For more information, see www.bto.org (http://www.bto.org)

ken

kenny

02-03-2007, 04:34 PM

hi all
i thought with the concern over the sparrows i would put this picture up as i thought it was great its on a staples sign but i aint saying where

http://www.feathered-friends.co.uk/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=606&stc=1&d=1170524245

ken

laurab

02-03-2007, 07:19 PM

Thankfully, I have loads in my garden and they are often 'rubbing shoulders' with the numerous Dunnocks also in the garden!

Would it be churlish for me to wish to see Goldfinches in my garden?

kenny

03-02-2007, 10:45 AM

http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_sociable_lapwing_flock_mahmoud_sheish_abdallah.j pg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_sociable_lapwing_flock_mahmoud_sheish_abdallah.h tml&width=&caption=) Mahmoud Sheish Abdallah
The Sociable Lapwing discovery was made in the short grasslands of Northern Syria
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_sociable_lapwing_flock_mahmoud_sheish_abdallah.h tml&width=400&caption=The Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius discovery was made in the short grasslands of Northern Syria) | Hi-Res (http://www.birdlife.org/images/raw/b_sociable_lapwing_flock_mahmoud_sheish_abdallah.j pg) Ornithologists “hit jackpot” on sightings of Critically Endangered bird

02-03-2007
Damascus, Syria: A small expedition team travelling across Syria today announced the discovery of the largest wintering population of one of Eurasia’s most endangered birds, the Sociable Lapwing. [1]
Previous estimates placed the global population of this Critically Endangered species at between 400 and 1500 individuals. However the expedition team reported seeing over 1200 birds in one day and over 1500 in total during the trip, all within a few grassland sites in Northern Syria.
The finding gives tremendous encouragement to conservationists working to save the bird across Central Asia (where it is a summer resident) and the Middle East (where the bird winters).
“It’s a finding that every ornithologist dreams of when starting out on an expedition like this.” said Remco Hofland, a Dutch ornithologist who led the Syrian Sociable Lapwing Team, made up of Dutch and Syrian birdwatchers. “We had spent the morning looking at a number of areas that were yielding good numbers of the species; almost 400. We were delighted - here we were looking at one of the rarest birds on Earth, and in such good numbers!”
“It was after these that we looked at one more area, which turned out to be the jackpot. Our team split into two and we saw 838 Sociable Lapwings, of which 700 were from a single vantage point.” Remco said.
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_single_sociable_lapwing_koshkin_maxim.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_sociable_lapwing.html&width=&caption=) Koshkin Maxim
Sociable Lapwing: less than 1500 were thought to exist before today's announcement
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_sociable_lapwing.html&width=400&caption=Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius : less than 1500 were thought to exist before today's announcement) | Hi-Res (http://www.birdlife.org/images/raw/b_single_sociable_lapwing_koshkin_maxim.jpg)
“It’s an incredible discovery, which gives real encouragement to global conservation efforts to save this Critically Endangered species,” —Dr Stuart Butchart, Global Species Programme Coordinator, BirdLife International
“It’s an incredible discovery, which gives real encouragement to global conservation efforts to save this Critically Endangered species,” said Dr Stuart Butchart, Global Species Programme Coordinator at BirdLife International. “Site protection is the crucial next step though: species that rely on a few small sites are particularly vulnerable to change – if this site isn’t adequately protected then the continued survival of Sociable Lapwing remains uncertain.”
The two major causes of biodiversity loss in the Syrian desert are illegal hunting and habitat degradation – both of which are thought to pose a threat to Sociable Lapwing in the region. Conservationists in the Middle East are now working urgently to ensure that the wintering population can be afforded immediate protection from these twin threats. [2]
“In order to safeguard this newly-discovered wintering population of Sociable Lapwing we have had to act quickly, working with local government agencies and the Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife to help secure the site and its vitally important bird populations,” said Sharif Jbour of BirdLife Middle East, who are among those coordinating actions in the region.
The expedition by the Syrian Sociable Lapwing Team was partly funded via a number of organisations: the RSPB (through a grant from the UK government's Darwin Initiative), the Ornithological Society of the Middle East and the Dutch Van Tienhoven Foundation.

ken

kenny

03-08-2007, 01:24 PM

UA researcher finds pygmy owls in danger } http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper997/stills/hdyogypb.jpg A female pygmy owl flies from its nest in a cactus in the Sonoran Desert. Arizona researchers have been tracking the owls to learn more about them.

For the past seven years a UA researcher has camped out in northern Mexico during the hot summer months looking for owl pellets and excrement.

Aaron Flesch, a senior research specialist in the School of Natural Resources, has become skilled at finding the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, a 3-ounce, 6-inch "reddish-tinged" owl that lives in lowland areas of Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico.

Listed as an endangered species in 1997, the pygmy owl was taken off the list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2005, even though the owl has nearly disappeared in the U.S., said Robert Steidl, an associate professor in the School of Natural Resources.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service didn't consider the pygmy owls in the U.S. to be distinct from the populations of pygmy owls in Mexico, Steidl said.

"Everyone assumed for a while that the populations in Mexico were OK, but they're not," said Steidl, who wrote the study analyzing the data collected by Flesch.

The study found the populations of the owl in Northern Mexico have declined by about 26 percent over the past seven years, and conservation groups are hoping that fact might put the pygmy owl back on the endangered species list.

Flesch began tracking pygmy owl populations as a graduate student at the UA in 1999.

"At that point, there was very little information on them, " Flesch said. At the time, there were about 20 pygmy owls in the Tucson area. Today, no known pygmy owls exist in Tucson.

Flesch's research has been aimed at assessing the status of the owl in Sonora, Mexico, over time and finding its implications on the recovery of pygmy owls in Arizona.

Flesch has tracked owls up to 100 kilometers into northern Mexico and 220 kilometer across the U.S.-Mexico border between Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Magdelena, Mexico.

Flesch and other volunteers, including UA students, have tracked 54 kilometers of wash tracts. Every 400 to 600 meters, they play a recording of a pygmy owl call to see if any male owls respond to locate the owls.

"They're very conspicuous," he said. "They make a hell of a racket."

Flesch said the male owls, which are highly territorial, respond to the call 100 percent of the time. About 110 different territories in all have been located, Flesch said.

The next task is finding the owls' nests, which are usually found high in Saguaro cacti hollows made by gila woodpeckers.

They look for owl pellets, "white wash," or owl droppings and the remains of the bird's prey, which sometimes turn up birds as large as the owls themselves.

"They're ferocious little animals," Flesch said.

"They're very
conspicuous. They make a hell of a racket.
"
- Aaron Flesch,
senior research specialist,
School of Natural
Resources

Flesch uses a micro-camera system that allow them to view the nests on a video screen, even in darkness.

"We stick this camera system up on an extendable pole, which sounds technical but it's really just a painting pole, or two of them, stuck together," Flesch said. "We check these cavities in the saguaros, and we can see the nest and count the number of eggs."

The nests are also monitored once the eggs hatch, and the young owls are counted again within a week before they leave the nest.

Since 2000, Flesch has gone back annually to see if the territories are still occupied by the owls from mid-April, when the owls begin laying their nests after the full moon, until late June, when the fledglings are about a week from leaving the nest.

The land they survey is almost exclusively privately or community-owned, said Flesch, which required building relations with the Mexican landowners for permission to survey their lands.

Although they're often working in border areas where smuggling occurs, the landowners and local law enforcement havehelped make sure they're safe and they've never had any problems, Flesch said.

The study also found that weather had a major impact on the populations. The populations declined in years when winter rainfall was low.

Woodcutting, agriculture and other human activity that disturbs the owls' nests also decreases the owl population.

Flesch is hoping for government and non-government funding sources to continue the study, which costs about $10,000 to $12,000 a year.

The study findings could lead to repopulation efforts in Arizona by relocating owls from Mexico if stable populations are found there, Flesch said.

Flesch said the study also has possible implications for other Sonoran Desert animals because the pygmy owl populates the same endangered habitat as many other species.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Defenders of Wildlife, nonprofit conservation organizations, are hoping the study will help put the species back on the endangered species list, said Noah Greenwald, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Both organizations are suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for delisting the species, Greenwald said.

kenny

03-12-2007, 06:53 PM

http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_sumatra_ground_cuckoo.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_sumatra_ground-cuckoo_cu.html&width=&caption=) Wildlife Conservation Society
Sumatran Ground-cuckoo Carpococcyx viridis
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_sumatra_ground-cuckoo_cu.html&width=400&caption=Sumatran Ground-cuckoo Carpococcyx viridis ) Lost cuckoo calls forth

12-03-2007
The call of Sumatran Ground-cuckoo Carpococcyx viridis has been recorded for the first time, giving conservationists further encouragement in efforts to save the elusive bird from extinction.
The recording was made from a lone ground-cuckoo, brought to conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) after being trapped by local hunters.
“Surveying birds in tropical forests is a real challenge since birds are often hidden from view in dense vegetation,” commented Dr Stuart Butchart of BirdLife International. “Knowledge of their calls is therefore a vital aid to surveying, and this recording may help conservationists learn more about the distribution of this secretive species.”
“We were extremely lucky to have recorded the bird’s unique call,” said Firdaus Rahman, of WCS’s Indonesia Program. “Our team will use the recording to hopefully locate other Sumatran Ground-cuckoos, and to eventually secure their protection.”
"...this recording may help conservationists learn more about the distribution of this secretive species.” —Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International
In recent decades, recordings of calls from Borneon Ground-cuckoo Carpococcyx radiatus and the rediscovered Gurney’s Pitta Pitta gurneyi have both proved invaluable tools for researchers working to map their species distributions.
Endemic to Sumatra, the large terrestrial ground-cuckoo is renowned for its elusive nature, even to experienced hunters. It had not been recorded for over eighty years until 1997 when one was photographed by conservationists working in the region. In 2006, another bird was captured on video in the Sumatran forest by a camera with built-in motion sensors.
The small population of Sumatran Ground-cuckoo is thought to have suffered from extensive habitat loss occurring in the area – at least two-thirds of original lowland forest cover and at least one-third of montane forest has been lost in recent years, primarily to agricultural encroachment. Sumatran Ground-cuckoo is listed by BirdLife International as Critically Endangered.
Currently in the care of conservationists, the cuckoo - nursing an injured foot - will be released back into northern Bukit Baresan Selatan National Park, where it was originally captured.
Hear the call of Sumatran Ground-cuckoo: click here (http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/03/sumatra_ground_cuckoo.wav)

kenny

03-21-2007, 09:07 PM

http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_black_grouse.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_black_grouse.html&width=&caption=) G. Leśniewski
Black Grouse: threatened by road developments in Poland
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_black_grouse.html&width=600&caption=Black Grouse Tetrao tetrix: threatened by road developments in Poland. Campaigners want the government to await the outcome of a Strategic Environmental Assessment) Poland's reckless approach to natural treasure lands it in European Court of Justice

21-03-2007
Warsaw, Poland / Brussels, Belgium - Polish and European environmental NGOs welcomed today’s decision by the European Commission to refer Poland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for breaching EU environmental law by planning construction of the Via Baltica expressway through the protected Rospuda Valley, in north-east Poland.
The Commission has also made use of special procedures (“interim measures”) to ask the Court to make an urgent order requiring Poland to suspend works immediately, until the full judgement is given. As construction firms are already on site, environmental NGOs hope that the Court will make a decision within days in order to protect the valley from irreversible damage.
For years environmental groups have complained that the currently proposed routing of the road does not respect EU law and that a viable and significantly less damaging alternative exists.
Magda Stoczkiewicz, Bankwatch’s Policy Coordinator, said: “It is very unfortunate that Poland is to be taken to the European Court of Justice over the Rospuda Valley case, but it is no surprise given the government’s rash approach to European law in this instance. The Commission's firm stand on this issue is encouraging and it can only be hoped now that the verdict of the Court will be positive for the valley, one of Poland’s and Europe’s unique natural treasures.”
“The whole European Partnership of BirdLife International supports the important move taken by the European Commission today..." —Konstantin Kreiser, EU Policy Manager, BirdLife International

These road developments on Via Baltica, as they are currently proposed, run straight through the Augustow and Knyszyn Primeval Forests. These are Special Protection Areas under the Birds Directive and should beproposed as Sites of Community Importance under the Habitats Directive – Europe’s major laws for the protection of natural environment. "The whole European Partnership of BirdLife International supports the important move taken by the European Commission today and also the sense of urgency that has driven the European Commission in the past months. We also fully support the request that an order be made for Poland to stop construction work pending the consideration of the Court. This is a crucial case and Poland, just as other EU Member States, must fulfil its obligations to respect EU nature legislation," added Konstantin Kreiser, EU Policy Manager of Birdlife International.
Marta Majka Wiśniewska of WWF Poland said: “The request from the Commission for so-called interim measures is further evidence of how bad the situation is. A key natural habitat with protected species could be lost because of a lack of will to assess alternative solutions. Instead of being proud about bringing such a natural treasure to Europe, Poland is putting it at risk. This situation must be stopped immediately.”

kenny

03-23-2007, 12:29 PM

Central Asia/Russia: Endangered Bird Making Comeback
By Antoine Blua (javascript:newWindow('/features/authors/blua.asp',325,280)) http://gdb.rferl.org/ee82a241-a7e3-40a3-9516-66060235066f_w220.jpgThe sociable lapwing(courtesy photo)March 22, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- In February, a team of Dutch and Syrian birdwatchers traveling in northern Syria counted more than 1,200 rare birds in just one day.

The expedition was counting members of the species vanellus gregarius, or the sociable lapwing. This migratory bird, which summers in Kazakhstan and Russia, is listed as "critically endangered" on the Red List of the World Conservation Union.
More exciting news came from southern Turkey this month, when Turkish ornithologists counted some 1,000 of the birds in one day near the Syrian border.
Rob Sheldon, from Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, works on a sociable lapwing research project in Kazakhstan. He told RFE/RL that the bird's population is probably much higher than previously thought.
"These sightings of more than 2,000 birds is one of the largest flocks of sociable lapwings seen in the last 10 years,” Sheldon said. “And, very interestingly, none of these birds were color-ringed. We've been putting these small plastic rings on [the birds’] legs in our study area in central Kazakhstan. So the fact that these birds in Syria [and Turkey] don't have any color-rings suggests there are a lot more birds outside our study area in Kazakhstan."
The bird's population has decreased drastically in the past 50 years, but may now be much higher than previously thought.
Previous estimates placed the global population of this species at between 400 and 1,500 birds.
The sociable lapwing is a large, grayish plover, a family of birds that live primarily along beaches and lakeshores and have short, hard bills. Lapwings have black- and brown-colored bellies, white eyebrows, black crowns, and stripes around the eyes.
The bird's breeding population is believed to be concentrated in north-central Kazakhstan, with small populations in south-central Russia. It spends its winters in the Middle East, northeast Africa, and northern India. During its migrations, the species transits though Central Asia, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, and Iran.
Threatened By Development
The coordinator for the implementation of an international action plan for the sociable lapwing in Almaty, Victoria Kovshar, told RFE/RL that the birds’ population has decreased drastically in the past 50 years.
"The main reason was that in the 1960s, the Soviet Union tried to develop steppes in northern [and central] Kazakhstan,” Kovshar said. “Many nests were destroyed by big herds of cattle, by shepherds’ dogs, and other reasons. But now, [most] people have moved from the steppe areas. Now the survival of nests, chicks, and eggs is pretty high. But the total [population] isn't growing. It means that we have some problems in the wintering places or on the migrating routes."
Sheldon agrees, adding that the threats the species is facing are not well understood and could include habitat destruction, hunting, and climate change.
http://gdb.rferl.org/4770AB09-AA95-417E-B96E-D7AD007853B5_w220.jpg Kazakhstan's Lake Tengiz (courtesy photo)He said scientists will continue fieldwork in Kazakhstan this year to widen their search within the potential species distribution area. Sheldon said more work is also planned to search possible breeding grounds and migration routes in Russia.
Meanwhile, a management plan for the Tengiz-Korgalzhyn lake system in Kazakhstan will continue developing under a seven-year project of the Global Environment Facility and the UN Development Program office in Astana.
The site -- an important habitat for sociable lapwings – straddles the Akmola and Karaganda regions. It comprises a nature reserve and a buffer zone totaling 353,000 hectares.
National project manager Talgat Kerteshev said the management plan will help build an integrated approach to conservation and the sustainable use of biological diversity.
"In the past, the natural reserve was managed without public participation. But now this management plan provides for the participation of local communities in the management of the reserve. The program on human resources management helps develop ecotourism. It tells how people can benefit from the reserve," Kerteshev said.
The project includes two other Kazakh wetlands located at important flyways: the Alakol-Sassykol lake system and the Ural River Delta.
Seeking Government Commitment To Conservation
On a wider scale, a Central Asian Flyway initiative is being developed to help conserve migratory birds by getting commitments from the countries in which they live.
This initiative focuses on international cooperation for the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats in an area from western Siberia to western China, through India to Central Asia and Iran.
Government representatives, scientists, and conservation experts have finalized a Central Asian Flyway action plan, expected to provide the basis for the region’s authorities to take individual and coordinated action to conserve waterbirds and their habitats.
Experts are concerned, however, that conservation measures remain a low priority in the many countries in the region that have economies in transition.

kenny

04-24-2007, 11:46 AM

Rare bird fights for survival
Feds take hands-off stand - Gunnison grouse's comeback keeps it off endangered list
By Jeremy P. Meyer
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 04/23/2007 06:21:32 AM MDT

var requestedWidth = 0; if(requestedWidth < 200){ requestedWidth = 200; } http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0423/20070423_120507_cd23grouse_200.jpg (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1502147 ) Two male Gunnison grouse display their plumage as they compete for the attention of hens on a breeding ground, or lek. The grouse is one of the most endangered birds in the U.S., conservation groups say. (Post / Helen H. Richardson)

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Gunnison - Morning sun crested over the Fossil Ridge Wilderness, illuminating dozens of Gunnison Sage-grouse performing their age-old breast-puffing mating ritual - what some call a dance on the edge of extinction.
The birds strut, fight and strike Kabuki-like poses in a rite as wild and natural as the sagebrush around them.
But even on this remote and vacant land, the wild birds have not escaped the impacts of humans.
Grouse habitat has been destroyed, the bird's population cut, and its future is being litigated and regulated.
"A single species becomes a symbol for a much larger issue about the degradation of land," said Jessica Young, a biology professor at Western State College in Gunnison.
The Gunnison grouse is one of the country's most endangered birds, according to the Audubon Society and the World Conservation Union.
Yet after the grouse's six years as a candidate for federal protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2006 removed it from consideration for the endangered-species list.
The decision relieved ranchers and outraged conservationists.
Faced with federal regulation of the land, Gunnison ranchers and local officials a decade ago began a homegrown effort to protect the grouse.
More than $11 million in public funds has been spent to preserve 17,000 acres and enhance the bird's habitat.
Ranchers say they also have changed their grazing practices; roads are closed during grouse mating season; and in the last decade, the bird's numbers in Gunnison have more than doubled to 4,245.
"As far as the Gunnison basin is concerned, we believe the best program is local," said Jim Cochran, a rancher and Gunnison County Sage-grouse coordinator. "The future of the bird is here. Unfortunately, it also makes us the bull's-eye." Environmentalists, however, filed a lawsuit seeking to block the endangered-species
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0422/20070422__20070423_A1_CD23GROUSE~p2_200.JPG (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1502018 ) (Post / Helen H. Richardson)

decision, saying science proves the bird is imperiled - and that the Bush administration meddled in the decision.
"Mechanisms aren't there to protect them in the long term," said Erin Robertson, biologist with the Center for Native Ecosystems - one of nine environmental organizations, along with San Miguel County, that signed onto the lawsuit.
One recent April morning, dozens of grouse flocked to a strutting ground on a remote sagebrush patch called a lek.
Male birds pranced in the dawn light trying to impress seemingly unimpressed hens. J. Wenum, manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, peered through binoculars from the inside of a truck 200 yards away, counting the males.
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0422/20070422__20070423_A10_CD23GROUSE~p2_200.JPG (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1502145 ) (Post / Helen H. Richardson)

"Think of this as a singles bar, and we are wildlife voyeurs," he said.
The dance in the sagebrush has occurred for more than 10,000 years, making the birds' drastic decline in the last 50 years all the more remarkable, said Western State College's Young, who has studied the grouse for 19 years.
The Gunnison Sage-grouse is an "indicator species" for shrub-steppe habitat, meaning its welfare is directly connected to the health of its ecosystem.
Throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries, humans looked at sagebrush as wasteland.
"We simply didn't put the same value on the sage as we put on the forests and wetlands," Young said. "... It's where we put our landfills." By 1958,
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0422/20070422__20070423_A10_CD23GROUSE~p1_200.JPG (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1502146 ) As part of local efforts to protect the Gunnison grouse and avoid federal intervention, ranchers have mowed swaths of thick sagebrush to open up areas for the endangered birds to nest, feed and raise their young, as on Craig Haase's 4,000-acre ranch, above. (Post / Helen H. Richardson)

most of the sagebrush ecosystem had been lost - broken into pieces by development, overgrazed by cattle and mined for minerals.
The grouse lost 90 percent of its habitat, Young said.
Few people ever noticed the grouse except during hunting season - when hills around the valley would turn orange with hunter's vests, ranchers say.
In the 1970s, hunters were asked to drop a wing into a bucket near the trailhead from birds they bagged so biologists could determine the birds' health.
That's when Clait Braun, former Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist, realized the Gunnison Sage-grouse was two- thirds smaller than the more common Greater Sage-grouse, whose range spans from California to Canada.
"These birds were midgets," Braun said of the Gunnison grouse. "I knew it was a different species. "We told the people in Gunnison that this bird was different and it was going to change their lives."
Braun also noticed the bird's numbers were falling.
In 1995, just 2,202 Gunnison Sage-grouse were counted, with 1,797 in the Gunnison Basin.
In 2000, the Gunnison Sage- grouse was officially designated a separate species and also became a candidate for the endangered-species list.
By 2005, it appeared the bird was destined for listing - worrying many locals in Gunnison because 80 percent of all the birds were in the Gunnison basin.
In addition, 40 percent of the bird's habitat was on private land and the rest on public land leased to ranchers for grazing.
The prospect of the bird getting listed galvanized the community, said Matt Kales, Fish and Wildlife legislative-affairs specialist.
"You could say it was fear," Kales said. "Whether or not you agree with it, it got people to the table."
Had the bird been listed, the federal government would have drawn up a recovery plan and restrictions would have been placed on habitat modification or degradation that could affect the birds' feeding, breeding and sheltering.
Gunnison County hired a Sage-grouse coordinator in 2005 and formed a strategic committee. Agencies began spending money to save the bird's habitat.
Since 1999, Great Outdoors Colorado, the state's trust using lottery money for open space and recreation, has spent nearly $5 million on 11,000 acres of grouse-conservation easements.
Federal and state agencies have spent another $6 million for 6,000 acres of easements.
The federal government also paid for aerial seeding to provide food for the grouse, did strategic mowing to open heavy sage stands for the bird and closed roads during breeding and nesting seasons.
About 100 ranchers with 102,000 acres of grouse habitat say they are considering voluntary conservation efforts if it would give them safe harbor if the bird were federally listed.
"We wanted enough local controls in place that the Fish and Wildlife Service would let us continue to manage the bird," said Paula Swenson, Gunnison County commissioner.
Since 2004, the number of birds has increased rangewide, which includes six sites outside the Gunnison basin, from 2,443 in 2004 to 5,205 in 2006, according to the state Division of Wildlife.
That trend was the basis for the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision not to list the bird, said Edward Garton, a University of Idaho professor who analyzed the data for the government.
"Overall, the population shows what you would describe as recovering after dropping in numbers," Garton said.
For now, ranching coexists in the basin with the birds and their curious, spring dance for love.
"It's just one of the more beautiful primordial experiences," said Sue Navy, the environmental representative on the county's grouse committee. "It's like watching the sun come up," said Navy, who gets up before dawn every year to watch the birds. "They are a part of our basin; they are an indicator of our ecosystem's health. They belong here."

laurab

04-24-2007, 06:26 PM

WOW, they are stunning!! Well done Kenny ;)

Waxbillman

04-24-2007, 07:08 PM

i was about to write the same thing Laura, amazing birds

Matthew

kenny

04-25-2007, 10:23 AM

thanks you guys ...but only reporting the news...its not down to me how beautiful they are ...but they are aint they

ken

kenny

05-21-2007, 08:18 AM

Home (http://www.birdlife.org/index.html) > News (http://www.birdlife.org/news/index.html) > News Search (http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/index.html) >
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/mk_iba.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/mk_iba.html&width=&caption=Egyptian+Vulture+%28Endangered%29%3A+one+o f+five+vulture+species+to+be+uplisted+in+the+2007+ IUCN+Red+List+update) Juan M. Simon
Egyptian Vulture (Endangered): one of five vulture species to be uplisted in the 2007 IUCN Red List update
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/mk_iba.html&width=400&caption=Egyptian+Vulture+%28Endangered%29%3A+one+o f+five+vulture+species+to+be+uplisted+in+the+2007+ IUCN+Red+List+update) 1,221 and counting: More birds than ever face extinction

21-05-2007
The latest evaluation of the world’s birds has revealed that more species than ever are threatened with extinction, and that additional conservation action is critical to reversing current declines.
BirdLife International’s annual Red List update –which takes into account population size, population trends and range size for all 10,000 bird species worldwide- states that 1,221 species are considered threatened with extinction and are to be listed as such on the 2007 IUCN Red List.
The latest update also shows an additional 812 bird species are now considered Near Threatened, adding up to a total of 2,033 species that are urgent priorities for conservation action.
The overall conservation status of the world’s birds has deteriorated steadily since 1988, when they were first comprehensively assessed. Now, more than a fifth (22%) of the planet’s birds is at increased risk of extinction.
The 2007 update has highlighted the deteriorating status of the world’s vultures: five more species have been ‘uplisted’ to higher categories of concern as a result of numerous threats. These include habitat loss, conversion and degradation (which remains the principal threat to all the world’s birds, impacting on 86% of Globally Threatened species), fewer feeding opportunities (as a result of declining wild ungulate populations on which to scavenge) and poisoning by the veterinary drug diclofenac – a factor behind rapid population declines in vultures across Asia in recent years.
Bird species restricted to oceanic islands continue to be among the world’s most threatened birds due mainly to the introduction of alien invasive species.
This year has seen St Helena Plover Charadrius sanctaehelenae uplisted to Critically Endangered, having suffered considerably in recent years from habitat degradation due to a proliferation in invasive plants and predation from cats, another invasive species. Likewise, Po’o-uli Melamprosops phaeosoma (known only from the Hawaiian island of Maui), has also become categorised as ‘Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)’ after the death in captivity of the last known individual, and the failure to find any other individuals in the wild.
Another island-nesting species, Waved Albatross Diomedea irrorata (which breeds only in the Galapagos islands), has been categorised as Critically Endangered, as new evidence shows it is declining, primarily because of the expansion of commercial long-line fishing, in which birds attracted to bait are hooked and drown.
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_waved_albatross_stirrup.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_waved_albatross_stirrup.html&width=&caption=Waved+Albatross%3A+19+of+the+22+species+of +albatross+are+now+threatened+with+extinction.) Simon Stirrup
Waved Albatross: 19 of the 22 species of albatross are now threatened with extinction.
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_waved_albatross_stirrup.html&width=400&caption=Waved+Albatross%3A+19+of+the+22+species+of +albatross+are+now+threatened+with+extinction.)
"Conservation works - we just need much more of it in order to turn back the tide of impending extinctions.” —Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife's Global Species Programme Coordinator
While the number of bird species included on the Red List increases, there is cause for encouragement: where conservation actions are put in place, species have shown signs of recovery.
Mauritius Parakeet Psittacula eques, which survives in south-west Mauritius (having become extinct historically on Réunion) has been downlisted (to Endangered) due to a highly successful recovery programme that has included release of captive-bred birds, measures to control predators and the provision of artificial nest sites. The programme has been led by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, a conservation NGO that has worked closely with the Mauritian government.
Further good news is provided by Spectacled Petrel Procellaria conspicillata, downlisted from Critically Endangered to Vulnerable, after an increase from an estimated 1,000 pairs in the 1980s to some 38,000 pairs in 2004. The population increase is part of a long-term recovery largely in response to removal of pigs from its only breeding site, Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, and has occurred despite losses to long-line fisheries.
Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife's Global Species Programme Coordinator said of this year’s Red List update:
“There are two sides to this story: whilst conservation efforts have been successful in recovering some species, there are more and more species slipping towards extinction. The challenge becomes greater each year.”
“But where efforts, resources and political will are directed, species can recover. Conservation works,” he said. “We just need much more of it in order to turn back the tide of impending extinctions.”
The results of BirdLife’s Red List update will be incorporated into the 2007 IUCN Red List, released in September 2007.
BirdLife’s revisions to Red List categories, and the associated documentation, including factsheets for all the world’s 10,000 bird species, can be found on the BirdLife website: visit www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html)

chris

05-21-2007, 09:23 AM

Hi Kenny,

did you get the one on the stalks that have bred in japan in thw wild for the first time in more than 40 years. it's on BBC news somewhere

Chris;)

kenny

05-21-2007, 09:35 AM

hi chris
it was on my list bud thanks for the reminder

ken

First endangered stork hatched in Japan since 1964

Agence France-Presse
Last updated 01:09pm (Mla time) 05/20/2007

TOKYO -- Endangered Oriental white storks have naturally hatched a chick in Japan for the first time in more than four decades, a park official said Sunday.
Wild Oriental white storks became extinct in Japan in 1971, since when Japanese conservationists have tried breeding some pairs of the migrant birds donated by Russia and released several of them into the wild.
But until now there had been no confirmed natural hatchings in Japan since 1964.
"We have seen at least three eggs laid in the nest," said Masayoshi Iida, an official of the breeding park for endangered birds in Hyogo prefecture, some 450 kilometers (280 miles) west of Tokyo.
"We saw a chick hatched from one of them this morning," he said. "There is another nest where also three eggs have been seen laid a while ago, but we are afraid they would not survive."
Zoos and parks in Japan protected some pairs of storks for a while beyond the time of their extinction in the wild. But they failed to breed them to return the species to the wild.

ken

kenny

05-21-2007, 02:43 PM

hi all
my news source is just restarting so i should get some decent stories..here`s one for a start

Home (http://www.birdlife.org/index.html) > News (http://www.birdlife.org/news/index.html) > News Search (http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/index.html) >
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_gorgeted_puffleg_male_alex_cortes.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/gorgeted_puffleg_male_alex_cortes.html&width=&caption=) Alex Cortes
"Spectacular discovery": Gorgeted Puffleg Eriocnemis isabellae
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/gorgeted_puffleg_male_alex_cortes.html&width=400&caption=) | Hi-Res (http://www.birdlife.org/images/raw/b_gorgeted_puffleg_male_alex_cortes.jpg) Stunning new hummingbird species needs immediate protection

14-05-2007
The flamboyantly coloured Gorgeted Puffleg Eriocnemis isabellae, a new species of hummingbird, has been discovered in Colombia. But there are concerns over its future safety because the Serrania del Pinche mountains where it was discovered are unprotected.
Ornithologists Alexander Cortés-Diago and Luis Alfonso Ortega made three sightings of the new hummingbird during surveys in 2005 of montane cloud forest in the Serrania del Pinche, south-west Colombia.
“We were essentially following a hunch,” said Alexander Cortés-Diago of The Hummingbird Conservancy (Colombia) and co-discoverer of Gorgeted Puffleg. “We had heard that a new species of plant had been discovered in the region in 1994. This discovery and the isolation of the Serrania led us to believe there could also be new species of vertebrates.”
“Though we expected to find new species of amphibians and new ranges for birds, the discovery of a new hummingbird was completely unexpected.”
The highly distinct new species is characterised by an enlarged, bicoloured iridescent throat patch (hence ‘Gorgeted’) in males and white tufts above the legs which are characteristic of ‘Puffleg’ hummingbirds.
Further surveys in 2006 brought more sightings and photographs which were sent for identification to Prof. Karl-L. Schuchmann, curator of ornithology at Zoological Research Museum A. Koenig (Germany).
Dr André-A. Weller of the Brehm Fund for International Bird Conservation/Zoological Research Museum A. Koenig, co-author of the scientific description published in Ornitologia Neotropical noted: “We immediately suspected the bird as a new species. Further study has shown that this is certainly the most spectacular discovery of a new hummingbird taxon during the last decade or more.”
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/serrania_del_pinche_hab_fragmentation.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/serrania_del_pinche_hab_fragmentation.html&width=&caption=) Alex Cortes
Serrania del Pinche is shrinking dramatically due to the spread of coca farming and ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/serrania_del_pinche_hab_fragmentation.html&width=400&caption=Serrania del Pinche is shrinking dramatically due to the spread of coca farming and ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.) | Hi-Res (http://www.birdlife.org/images/raw/serrania_del_pinche_hab_fragmentation.jpg)
"..conservation action is undoubtedly a priority for the Serrania del Pinche.” —Ian Davidson, Head of BirdLife International's Americas Programme, Ecuador
The mountainous Serrania del Pinche region may hold other new species but their future isn’t secure.
“The isolated nature of the Serrania del Pinche within the biodiverse Choco region makes it likely that further new species await discovery,” said Luis Mazariegos-Hurtado of The Hummingbird Conservancy. “Yet a major threat to these forests exists: the increase in coca fields and ‘slash and burn’ agriculture. It is estimated that 500 hectares are lost each year.” commented Mazariegos-Hurtado.
The species has been heralded by BirdLife International as one of the most significant new discoveries of recent years.
“This is an important discovery for bird conservation and further evidence of how much more there is to learn about the world’s forests, and how much we stand to lose if they are allowed to be destroyed.” said Ian Davidson, Head of BirdLife International's Americas Programme based in Ecuador. “Gorgeted Puffleg is a flagship species for the biodiversity of Serrania del Pinche, which must be conserved,” he added.
“To go undiscovered for so long, the bird’s range must be extremely small and fragile – hence conservation action is undoubtedly a priority for the Serrania del Pinche.”
A number of conservation organisations are now looking to ensure the region is secured further protection. The Hummingbird Conservancy has started a conservation initiative with local communities and governmental organisations, whilst Fundación Ecohabitat (Colombia) is working to reduce the relentless expansion of agriculture into the forests by promoting use of legal crops and sustainable agriculture.
The Hummingbird Conservancy is proposing the site become an Important Bird Area to Colombia's Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, working in collaboration with BirdLife International.
“This is a discovery with mixed emotions: the indescribable happiness of finding a new hummingbird and the harsh reality that this may be one of the most endangered species outside of an unprotected area.” said Luis Alfonso Ortega of Fundación Ecohabitat, co-discoverer of the hummingbird.

kenny

06-07-2007, 07:50 PM

Climate change and habitat destruction will severely threaten 400 to 900 species of land birds by 2050, according to a study assessing the impact of human activities on global bird populations.
As a consequence, the number of species on the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Red List would more than double.
Walter Jetz from the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues from Princeton University, both in the US, mapped the distributions of all 8750 known land bird species against habitat changes predicted in several possible environmental futures proposed by the recently completed UN-led Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
"Species in temperate regions will suffer mostly from climate change. But in the tropics, where birds are especially diverse and have small ranges, land conversion such as deforestation will have an even bigger impact," says Jetz.
The team also found that climate change would lead to a large number of extinctions in Arctic and Antarctic bird species.
Specialists suffer

Jetz acknowledges that his model has limitations because it assumes that birds will not be able to shift their ranges, but he believes their findings broadly apply.
Bill Sutherland at the University of Cambridge, UK, who was not involved in the study, agrees: "We've seen it before when studying butterflies. The specialists that are confined to small areas don't cope well with habitat change and this applies to many tropical bird species."
The global outlook of the study is important, Jetz says. "It helps to remind richer countries of their developmental duty to conserve further away from home. The money spent on protecting a single local bird species at higher latitudes could save hundreds of species in Central America."

kenny

06-07-2007, 07:53 PM

Intensive farming damaging bird numbers

By Paul Eccleston
Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 06/06/2007

RSPB launches vote for favourite bird (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1S1OPC5WY1AO5QFIQMGCFF4AVCBQ UIV0?xml=/earth/2007/06/06/eabirds106.xml) The catastrophic decline of farmland birds in Britain due to intensive farming methods is being mirrored across Europe, a new survey reveals.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/graphics/2007/06/06/eabirds06.jpgThe red-backed shrike has become extinct as a nesting bird in the UKEurope's farmland birds have declined by almost half in the past 25 years as a direct consequence of the Common Agricultural Policy, it is claimed.
The information, collected from 20 national breeding bird surveys across Europe - including the UK - over the last 25 years, confirm the extent to which farmland birds have suffered.
Across the continent from 1980 to 2005, the populations of 33 species of common farmland birds have fallen, on average, by 44 per cent - the most severe decline of the bird categories monitored, according to the findings from the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme.
Of the 33 species of common farmland birds monitored across Europe, 19 nest in the UK. Formerly, the red-backed shrike also nested, but it has become extinct as a nesting bird in the UK, largely because of agricultural intensification.
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"Birds can be vital barometers of environmental change - their declines are clear proof of the environmental degradation that has occurred across European farmland," said Dr Richard Gregory, Chairman of the European Bird Census Council, and Head of Monitoring and Indicators at the RSPB.
"The data is staring us in the face: many farmland birds - and the species and habitats with which they coexist - are under serious threat."
Among the most rapidly widespread declining species of farmland bird in Europe are the grey partridge, corn bunting and turtle dove, all species which have suffered massively in the UK.
Other widespread species which have declined by more than half in Europe include the lapwing, whinchat and linnet, all species which have suffered a population crash in the UK.
The bird organisations involved in the study are calling for a reform of the heavily-subsidised Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that has led to widespread agricultural intensification in EU countries.
Although the drive towards agriculture has lessened with successive reforms, the CAP still appears to be hitting both farmland birds and the European environment in general.
"These results show how urgently we need a complete reform of the Common Agriculture Policy, to deliver targeted support for high nature value farming systems and farmed Natura 2000 sites, and to support farmers in delivering environmental improvements throughout the countryside," said Ariel Brunner, BirdLife's EU Agriculture Policy Officer, based in Brussels.
There are fears that new EU member states, which hold some of Europe's largest concentrations of birds, will suffer the same fate.
Concern is growing that EU membership will accelerate and worsen the situation.
"The EU has made encouraging strides forward in environmental legislation, yet for farmland - which accounts for nearly half of the total land surface of Europe - we are working to an outdated policy that still encourages unsustainable intensive farming, while failing to support those extensive farming systems that are vital for biodiversity conservation and rural economies," said Brunner.
The study also reveals the decline of forest birds: across Europe as a whole from 1980 to 2005, numbers of common forest birds have fallen on average by nine per cent. Forest ecosystems react more slowly to changes in management than farmland so the consequences could be even worse than is apparent.
The fall in the number of forest birds has been worse in the boreal forests of Northern Europe, where they are thought to be threatened by intensive forestry.
"We have the data and the knowledge to help farmland and forest birds, but we need urgently to look deeper into the reasons behind these declines - and to design effective policies that will ensure further losses do not occur," said Dr Gregory.
The results, bring together the most comprehensive biodiversity indicators of their kind in Europe, collated by the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS) - a partnership of leading scientists from the European Bird Census Council, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, BirdLife International, and Statistics Netherlands.

kenny

06-16-2007, 12:52 PM

laurab

06-18-2007, 10:18 AM

Hi Kenny

Thanks for keeping us all up to date with the latest news.

There was a job in C&A for you last week - part-time news reporter!

Laura

kenny

06-18-2007, 11:13 AM

hi laura
thanks for the info..but as i have said before they dont need to employ me as they pinch all my stories as it is...but its something i enjoy doing i just wish i could post more at the moment on different subjects

ken

Waxbillman

06-18-2007, 12:48 PM

you should go for it Ken

this way they will pay your for them pinching your news articles

Matthew

kenny

06-18-2007, 01:35 PM

hi matt
have you got a copy of the advert as i did not get a c&a last week i missed it!

ken

Waxbillman

06-18-2007, 02:43 PM

Laura saw it, i have had a scan through couldn't see it, she must have eagle eyes

laurab

06-18-2007, 04:36 PM

It was a LARGE advert Matt on page 25 :lol:

News Writer - part time 3 days a week.

Ideally the candidate will have a journalism qualification. The paper was dated 14 June and closing date is 15 June! :roll:

Waxbillman

06-18-2007, 05:07 PM

:lol: well thats usefull Laura, we have built Ken's hopes up now :lol:

kenny

06-19-2007, 10:38 AM

hi matt/laura
it was just for curiosities sake...i am not allowed to earn a single penny above what i get niether is my wife.....i will tell you now matt and i dont care who knows it...because i had an accident at work and receive industrial injuries benefit i have to pay full dental and vision payments..if i was on the dole i would get all these paid in full but because it was not my fault i am out of work i get penalised i get no rebate payments whatsoever of any kind and my wife is only allowed to earn £43 a week if she goes over that its taken off me it makes me sick when people just apply for rate rebates and rent rebates when they are unemployed..and i cant get anything as if i wanted to be like this...dont worry matt i am not annoyed with you its just that i cant even take voulantary employment at a charity shop!:roll: :roll:

ken

Waxbillman

06-19-2007, 11:47 AM

thats disgusting Ken

Matthew

kenny

07-06-2007, 09:17 AM

hi all
this is a scoop ..if you notice the release date for this article

Home (http://www.birdlife.org/index.html) > News (http://www.birdlife.org/news/index.html) > Press Releases (http://www.birdlife.org/news/pr/index.html) >
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/300/mabira_map_update.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/mabira_map.html&width=&caption=Mabira+Forest+Reserve+Important+Bird+Area% 3A+%3Ca+href%3D%22+http%3A%2F%2Fwww.qpqsoftware.co m%2Fgmaps%2Fviewsite.php%3Fsid%3D7052%26lat%3D0.5% 26lon%3D33%26loc%3DMabira+Forest+Reserve%22+_blank %3ESee+map%3CA+%2F%3E) Map generated by QPQ Software Ltd using Google Maps
Mabira Forest Reserve Important Bird Area: <A href="http://www.qpqsoftware.com/gmaps/viewsite.php?sid=7052&lat=0.5&lon=33&loc=Mabira Forest Reserve" _blank>See map
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/mabira_map.html&width=400&caption=Mabira+Forest+Reserve+Important+Bird+Area% 3A+%3Ca+href%3D%22+http%3A%2F%2Fwww.qpqsoftware.co m%2Fgmaps%2Fviewsite.php%3Fsid%3D7052%26lat%3D0.5% 26lon%3D33%26loc%3DMabira+Forest+Reserve%22+_blank %3ESee+map%3CA+%2F%3E) Conservationists call for Ugandan government to halt forest ‘give-aways’

05-07-2007
Strictly not for release before 00.01 (GMT) Saturday 07 July 2007
Kampala, Uganda: The fate of Mabira Forest Reserve –home to 30% of bird species found in Uganda- continues to hang in the balance as President Museveni and some elements of the Ugandan government attempt to hand over a quarter of its area for sugarcane cultivation. [1]
BirdLife International and NatureUganda (BirdLife in Uganda) continue to argue that the economic benefits of retaining Mabira in its present form, will easily exceed the ‘short-sighted’ gains quoted by the government in the proposed forest ‘give-away’. [2] [3]
Mabira Forest Reserve (at over 30,000 hectares) is listed by BirdLife as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and contains over 300 bird species, including the Endangered Nahan's Francolin Francolinus nahani. The forest is also home to nine species found exclusively in the region including Grey-cheeked Mangabey Lophocebus albigena johnstoni, a recently identified endemic primate subspecies. [4]
In order to convey the enormous value of retaining Mabira Forest Reserve, NatureUganda has undertaken an economic study of the site, which they are now putting to the Ugandan government. Among the economic benefits of retaining Mabira that NatureUganda have outlined are:
1. Environmental services provided by Mabira Forest Reserve. Most notably the forest protects the water catchment area for Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga and the River Nile. The forest also acts as a carbon sink worth $212 million USD at current carbon market prices.
2. Local livelihoods are supported via commodities that come from the forest, particularly from the sustainable harvesting of wood, food and medicines. The National Forestry Authority, the lead forestry agency in Uganda, last year estimated the value of the wood alone at $568 million USD.
3. Tourism at Mabira is another high-earner for Uganda: Mabira contributes 62% of the total revenue collected from visitors to Uganda’s Forest Reserves. Ecotourism is now Uganda’s second largest foreign exchange earner.
“The economic studies that we have undertaken clearly indicate that keeping Mabira Forest Reserve for reasons of conservation, constitutes a better land-use option than sugarcane growing when total economic value is considered,” said Achilles Byaruhanga, Executive Director of NatureUganda.
“If a quarter of Mabira is chopped down the effect on the remaining forest will be far-reaching, reducing the range of species, causing encroachment, erosion and siltation, and reducing its capacity to provide services, so there would be less water in rivers, less rain, less carbon intake, fewer tourists,” he added.
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_blue-fronted_roller.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_blue-fronted_roller.html&width=&caption=Blue-throated+Roller%3A+One+of+Mabira%27s+300+bird+spec ies.) Greg and Yvonne Dean/ WorldWildlifeImages.com
Blue-throated Roller: One of Mabira's 300 bird species.
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_blue-fronted_roller.html&width=400&caption=Blue-throated+Roller%3A+One+of+Mabira%27s+300+bird+spec ies.)
“For the Ugandan government...to continue with a venture that is so very costly in terms of biodiversity loss and in terms of economic stability, is wholly deplorable.” —Hazell Shokellu Thompson, Head of BirdLife’s Africa Division
NatureUganda’s arguments for stopping the ‘give-away’ of Mabira Forest Reserve are supported by BirdLife International, a global alliance of over one hundred conservation organisations. [5]
“For the Ugandan government and Mehta Group [sugar company] to continue with a venture that is so very costly in terms of biodiversity loss and in terms of economic stability, is wholly deplorable.” said Hazell Shokellu Thompson, Head of BirdLife’s Africa Division. "However, we are confident that once all the facts have been reviewed, the Ugandan government will do the right thing for the Ugandan people and stop the ‘give-away’".
"Uganda ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1993 and has a fairly good track record in upholding the treaty so far. The government has an obligation to continue to adhere to the agreement in the same way that many African and world nations do," he commented. [6]
“The sugar company itself also argues that it has a strict policy of environmental compliance which this venture quite obviously contradicts.” [7]
Mabira is only one of a number of ‘give-aways’ proposed by the Ugandan government, believed to be planning a bill to amend the National Forest and Tree Planting Act that would give the National Forestry Authority power to de-gazette protected forests without first going through parliament. [8]

laurab

07-06-2007, 04:33 PM

I don't know how you do it, but you have done well ;-) :-P

kenny

08-08-2007, 09:02 AM

Scottish puffin population starving in climate change

MARTYN McLAUGHLIN
IN THE darkness of their burrows, the puffin chicks starve to death while food lies decomposing in front of them.
They are not able to swallow the snake pipefish brought back from the North Sea by their parents because it is covered in a hard exo-skeleton.

With no fat on their bodies, the pufflings soon perish. Shunned even by predators, they are left to decay atop the cliffs of St Kilda - the latest victims of climate change.
As an iconic symbol of Scotland's wildlife, the Atlantic puffin is a bird cherished by nature enthusiasts.
But the long-term sustainability of the puffin population in one of the most internationally important breeding colonies is uncertain - St Kilda's clowns of the sea are starving to death. The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) says the adult seabirds are not finding enough food around the archipelago, west of the Outer Hebrides.
With about half of Britain's population, few of the World Heritage Site's puffins are coming of age, which some conservationists say is leaving the entirety of the birds' population "verging on catastrophe".
The most recent survey suggests there are 284,528 Atlantic puffins on St Kilda's uninhabited islands, which accounts for around a quarter of the entire UK population.
Yet barely over half of the eggs hatched fledged chicks last year. While that figure of 57 per cent represents an increase on 2005's all-time low of 26 per cent, it remains perilously below the average, which stands at about 71 per cent.
Across other sites in Scotland, the threat to the puffin population is equally severe.
The ruthlessness of nature is largely to blame. Conservation experts have told The Scotsman, the issue is inextricably bound to the mismanagement of Scotland's waters.
Over the past two decades, the surface temperature in the southern North Sea has risen by 2C.
It appears at first to be a negligible increase, but it is playing out a complex choreography on the food needed during the seabirds' breeding seasons.
Whereas once the puffins, also known as sea parrots, thrived on the likes of oil-rich sand eels, young herring, or sprats, they are now forced to eke out what little nutritional value is available from snake pipefish, which until recently, was rarely seen.
The rise in temperature has led to plankton regime shifts and a change in tidal cycles, which in turn affects fish like sand eels.
Sarah Money, the NTS seabird ranger on the islands, forecast a grim future for the birds.
"The chicks are just dying of starvation, with hundreds of emaciated bodies lying around outside the burrows," she said.
"Since July, the parents have been bringing back mainly pipefish, which the chicks can't swallow. Many of the burrows contain piles of uneaten, rotting pipefish."
The crisis, according to Becky Boyd, is at tipping point. Dr Boyd, a marine policy officer with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, pointed out that at present, only 0.01 per cent of Scotland's water is protected by legislation, an area the size of Kensington Gardens. That must increase in order to protect all of Scotland's natural environment and wildlife, she stressed.
"The management of seas in Scotland is in absolute chaos, and the future of puffins is verging on catastrophe as a result," Dr Boyd said.
"This is not just about dying puffin chicks and disappearing sand eels, it's a sign that Scotland's seas are pressing the red destruct button as a result of human pressures. The Scottish government must create a network of marine reserves where wildlife can recover, and press ahead with a Scottish marine bill with conservation at its heart to revive our seas and support all the livelihoods that depend upon them."
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland believes seabird breeding has been "disastrous" this year, singling out Orkney and Shetland in particular.
The problems facing puffins is not isolated to St Kilda. On Fair Isle, the most remote inhabited island in Britain, breeding success fell to the second lowest level on record last year. The Fair Isle Bird Observatory found about four in ten adult birds were returning to their colonies to try and feed their young with snake pipefish. In one burrow alone, conservationists recovered a total of 85 discarded pipefish.
Rangers on the Hebridean island of Canna and St Abbs Head in the Borders, which are also owned and managed by NTS, have also reported an increase in pipefish, a scourge for puffins and kittiwakes.
Lynda Dalgleish, the marketing manager of the Scottish Seabird Centre, has also witnessed difficulties in the Firth of Forth. There, on Craigleith island, conservationists have enjoyed a rise in the puffin population over the past five years after hundreds of volunteers helped remove tree mallow, a non-native plant, which had grown over the entrances to burrows.
The scourge of snake pipefish, however, remains a threat to puffins and kittiwakes.
"It's horrible to watch these little birds unable to eat," Ms Dalgleish said. "The parents are bringing back the pipefish thinking they are sand eels, but the young just can't digest them.
"It's very distressing. We've had visitors watching live webcams of the young trying to swallow the pipefish, and it's very, very sad."
Ms Dalgleish argued that a blanket ban on the fishing of sand eels would help restore the puffins' food source.
"The numbers have to be allowed to fully replenish so the puffins can feed their young," she added.
The prevalence of snake pipefish is a relatively recent phenomenon. As Ms Money explained, in the waters around St Kilda, the close relative of the seahorse was rarely seen before the turn of the century, but has become "increasingly common".
"It is feared that this is another symptom of climate change," she said. "They have been extending their range southwards."
Richard Luxmoore, head of nature conservation at NTS, warned: "We are now experiencing major changes in the sea that were quite unpredicted.
"Shifts in plankton populations and a reduction in sand eels have been relatively well studied, but nobody foresaw the invasion of the snake pipefish or the dramatic effect it would have on our seabirds.
"In an ecosystem as complex as the sea, the major disruption caused by climate change can have a huge impact on humans and wildlife alike."

this is because all the E U countries are emptying the seas of sand eels to make fish meal....words fail me at this point...this country makes me sick!

ken

Waxbillman

08-08-2007, 09:52 AM

that is terrible news, it would be terrible to lose such nice birds

Matthew

kenny

08-08-2007, 10:12 AM

hi matt
they need to stop all the french and other e u contries fishing for the sand eels just to make fish meal..they can make it from lots of other fish if they wanted to its just that they are easier to catch...the typical photo of a puffin is the one with its beak lined with sand eels..we cannot affford to loose these birds as they are typical of these islands and one of the best loved sea birds

ken:sad:

kenny

08-10-2007, 07:47 AM

i am fed up of reading these reports where all the land where birds are nesting is being sold off..when is it going to stop

http://www.birdlife.org/images/spacer.gif
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/graemehall-little_egret.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/little_egret_barbardos.html&width=&caption=) Jim Kushlan
Little Egrets and Snowy Egrets nesting together on a few small mangrove bushes in Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, Barbados
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/little_egret_barbardos.html&width=400&caption=Little Egrets and Snowy Egrets nesting together on a few small mangrove bushes in Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, Barbados) First New World Little Egrets under threat on Barbados

17-07-2007
The first colony of Little Egret Egretta garzetta in the New World, and its home, the last significant red and white mangrove swamp in Barbados, are at risk from deteriorating habitat quality and threatened development.
Marshlands within the Graeme Hall Swamp –a Ramsar wetland of international importance which holds the last significant mangrove woodland and largest lake in Barbados- were recently put up for sale for potential “environmentally appropriate commercial operations”.
Conservationists have expressed concern at the sale, and are urging priority be given to buyers with ecologically sound credentials and intentions; rather than sale for a “monoculture theme park” as some fear, that has little consideration for species conservation.
More than 85 bird species have been found at Graeme Hall Swamp, including Caribbean Coot Fulica caribaea, and the mangroves and environs of the swamp harbour the highest density of the endemic race of Yellow Warbler Dendroica petechia on Barbados. Three other Lesser Antilles endemic species occur (Antillean Crested Hummingbird, Green-throated Carib and Barbados Bullfinch). The permanent wetland is also critical habitat for migrant and vagrant waterbirds.
“The Graeme Hall Swamp and Chancery Lane Swamp Important Bird Areas are critical to the conservation of the Little Egret in the New World,” states the lead story in the new issue of [I]Birds Caribbean, the newsletter produced by BirdLife International for the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds. “The Little Egret is an Old World species that naturally colonised the Western Hemisphere when it began nesting in Barbados in 1994. The population now numbers about 24 birds.” But in recent years, Birds Caribbean reports, the numbers found in annual Christmas Bird Counts have been declining.
“The Graeme Hall Swamp and Chancery Lane Swamp Important Bird Areas [IBAs] are critical to the conservation of the Little Egret in the New World,” —Birds Caribbean, June 2007 issue
Little Egrets nest only in the Graeme Hall Swamp, specifically in an excavated lagoon within a private reserve, the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary. There are no other suitable sites in Barbados. Although they have in the past nested on mangroves around the main lagoon, the birds have shown preference for a mangrove islet in the middle of the lagoon. These few small mangroves are degrading due to the birds’ presence and the effects of storms. Work is urgently needed to restore these nesting trees, and to establish other suitable islets for nesting in the lagoon.
For Little Egret, there are very few suitable feeding sites in Barbados. Those remaining include government-owned marshes within the Graeme Hall Swamp adjacent to the sanctuary, Chancery Lane Swamp, and some privately-owned and artificially maintained marshes used for hunting.
The US$12 million sale of the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary could mean an uncertain future for the Little Egret in the New World. However, conservationists have highlighted how correct management of Graeme Hall Swamp could boost egret numbers:
“Future plans for management of Graeme Hall Swamp could better be focused on enhancing rather than decreasing available egret feeding habitat,” the authors of the Birds Caribbean story assert. “Such management would also contribute positively to mosquito control in the wetland.” They also call for permanent protected status for the Chancery Lane Swamp IBA.

ken

kenny

08-10-2007, 07:53 AM

and yet another one
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_fairy_pitta_eames.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_fairy_pitta_eames.html&width=&caption=) J Eames/BirdLife
Fairy Pitta Pitta nympha
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_fairy_pitta_eames.html&width=400&caption=Fairy Pitta Pitta nympha) Dam raises global concerns over future of Fairy Pitta

29-06-2007
The future of Fairy Pitta -among Asia’s most beautiful and enigmatic birds- is threatened by the construction of a dam that would flood 422 hectares of its forest habitat resulting in the destruction of a large part of the most important breeding area in the region.
The Hushan Dam Project, proposed for Taiwan’s Yunlin County, is the latest in a series of threats to the Huben-Hushan area which is listed as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International on account of Fairy Pitta Pitta nympha and five species found only on Taiwan Island.
150 Fairy Pitta are known to breed in the Huben-Hushan IBA during summer months, making it a site of international importance for the long term survival of this globally threatened species. Fairy Pitta is listed as Vulnerable by BirdLife on account of recent global declines owing mainly to extensive deforestation in its breeding range across other parts of China and Japan.
“It is a fact that the forests within the Huben-Hushan IBA, where the dam has been planned, support the largest known breeding population of Fairy Pitta anywhere in the world,” said Dr Mike Rands, Chief Executive of BirdLife International. “This makes the protection of this habitat a global issue, about which we express great concern.”
The IBA also provides habitat for other important species including the Taiwan Partridge Arborophila crudigularis and Swinhoe’s Pheasant Lophura swinhoii – both endemic to the island.
“It is a fact that the forests within the Huben-Hushan IBA...support the largest known breeding population of Fairy Pitta anywhere in the world,” —Dr Mike Rands, Chief Executive, BirdLife International
The Huben-Hushan IBA has faced previous threats, most significantly from gravel extraction, an issue which WBFT, BirdLife International and local environmentalists successfully campaigned against, and halted, in 2000. The organisations at the time applauded the hard-line stance of the Taiwanese authorities on the issue.
BirdLife and WBFT join others locally in continuing to appeal that suitable alternatives to the Hushan Dam are sought. In a letter earlier this month to the Taiwanese authorities Dr Peter Schei, chairperson of BirdLife’s Council, asked that they: “respond positively to this appeal and consider alternatives to the current project in order to avoid the destruction of an area of habitat so critical to a species with such a threatened and fragile future.

kenny

08-10-2007, 08:06 AM

Gouldian Finch - BirdLife Species Factsheet

show additional data (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=8695&m=1)ENGouldian Finch Erythrura gouldiae
2007 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN): Endangered

Justification This species is listed as Endangered as it has a very small population which is undergoing a continuing decline owing to ongoing habitat modification.

Family/Sub-family Estrildidae
Species name author (Gould, 1844)
Taxonomic source(s) Christidis and Boles (1994), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)
Synonyms Chloebia gouldiae Collar et al. (1994), Chloebia gouldiae Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)
Identification 11-12.5 cm. Gaudy finch with pointed, black tail. Adult is among the most colourful of birds. Grass-green upper body from lower nape to back and wings, browner remiges. Black, red, or rarely, orange-yellow head and throat, narrowly bordered posteriorly with black and pale blue. Pale blue rump. Purple breast. Bright yellow belly. Whitish bill with red tip. Female duller on underside. Juvenile ashy-grey on head and neck, paler below and olive-grey on upper body and wings. Similar spp. Adult unmistakable. Juvenile more olive and bulkier than other finches. Voice Sibilant sitt, repeated. Hints Gather at waterholes to drink in dry season.

http://www.birdlife.info/wbdbweb/images/speciespicture/8695.gifPopulation estimate
Population trend
Range estimate (breeding/resident)
Country endemic?
2,499
decreasing
101,000 km2
Yes

Range & population Chloebia gouldiae is found in northern Australia, with scattered records from Cape York Peninsula through north-west Queensland and the northern Northern Territory to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is only known with regularity from a handful of sites in Queensland. Birds are more numerous in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. There is strong evidence of a continuing decline, even at the best-known site near Katherine. The population is conservatively estimated to be less than 2,500 mature individuals at the start of the breeding season.

http://www.birdlife.info/wbdbweb/images/speciesmap/2000-8695.gifEcology It lives in open, tropical woodland with a grassy understorey, nesting exclusively in tree-hollows. In the non-breeding season, it occurs in a wide variety of woodland habitats. Throughout the year, it feeds almost exclusively on grass seed.

Threats Grazing and altered fire regimes are thought to be the main threats. Cattle and horses prevent grass from seeding, and the fire history of many sites has become too uniform, obliterating the mosaics of burnt and unburnt habitat the birds require. Trapping may have had a local effect in the past. Infection with the parasitic mite Sternostoma tracheacolum was long thought to be one of the principal reasons for decline. However, it is now considered that it may be indicative of stress to the birds resulting from a broader change at the landscape level that has affected a range of granivore species.

Conservation measures underway Management actions completed or under way include the completion and implementation of a recovery plan, the establishment of regional operations groups, detailed research on fire, food and movements at two sites, an extensive programme of protective fencing to prevent damage by herbivores, the collation and maintenance of a database of all known sight records and a review of the patterns of distribution, habitats, potential threats and conservation status of savanna granivorous birds. Attempts at reintroduction have so far proved unsuccessful.

Conservation measures proposed Undertake strategic surveys of suitable habitat. Obtain indices of population sizes at key habitats. Monitor persistence at sites throughout current range. Characterise habitat at a regional level. Continue reintroduction program in eastern Queensland. Analyse feeding and breeding habitat at a regional scale. Develop techniques for habitat rehabilitation. Manage significant sites in an appropriate manner. Develop management guidelines for land-holders. Liase with land-holders about appropriate land management. Promote the recovery programme and evaluate performance.

References Garnett and Crowley (2000). Donnelly and Lewis (2003).

Further web sources of information
Australian Govt - Action Plan for Australian Birds 2000 - Recovery Outline (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid= 8695&m=0#FurtherInfo)
Text account compilers Phil Benstead (BirdLife International), Stephen Garnett (Birds Australia), Rachel McClellan (BirdLife International), Helen Temple (BirdLife International)
IUCN Red List evaluators Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), John Pilgrim (BirdLife International)
Recommended citation BirdLife International (2007) Species factsheet: Erythrura gouldiae. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/8/2007
This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions (http://www.hbw.com/) and BirdLife International, and BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List (http://www.redlist.org/).

laurab

08-11-2007, 05:54 AM

Hi Kenny - reading your reports is very depressing :( I have no wish to see any bird become extinct.

I do hope that something can be done to help the Puffins. As you said we all have that classic picture in our minds of a Puffin with a line of Sandeels in its beak.

Humans will do anything to make money!

kenny

08-11-2007, 09:33 AM

hi laura
i am sorry if these posts are depressing ..but all of them seem to be the same at the moment..poland ,grenada and othe parts of europe are all selling land off to build roads and dams without giving any thought to the wildlife that they are condemming to death all for money! everything i come across seems to be about the same thing ..i bet i could line up at least 6 stories all to do with man destroying bird habitats to make a fast buck...funnily enough the people who care the most seem to be the americans!

ken

kenny

08-15-2007, 01:53 PM

http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/redknot3.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_red_knot.html&width=&caption=) USFWS
Red knot Calidris canutus rufa:
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_red_knot.html&width=400&caption=Recent unexplained Red Knot die-offs are) Contributing factors sought as Red Knot population plummets

14-08-2007
A new report has revealed a drastic population decline in the Red Knot subspecies Calidris canutus rufa. Numbers at their wintering grounds in southern South America have fallen drastically in recent years; from 51,300 in 2000 to approximately 30,000 in 2004, and still further to just 17,200 in 2006.
The 2007 Red Knot Assessment Report, prepared by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and based on demographic studies covering 1994-2002, reveals that the rufa subspeciescould become extinct within ten years, if adult survival remains low.
As result of the significant declines, Red Knot Calidris canutus rufa has been included under Appendix I of the Convention of Migratory Species by request of the Argentinean government. In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has listed it as Endangered.
Of the six Calidris canutus subspecies, rufa travels the longest distance, between breeding areas in the Canadian Artic and wintering areas in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
Although the causes of the population crash are not yet fully understood, the dramatic decline is mainly attributed to the low availability of horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay, USA, a key stopover site for Red Knot Calidris canutus rufa. The lack of eggs has been attributed to an elevated harvest of adult crabs for bait in the conch and eel fishing industries. Studies show that Red Knot individuals with lower body weight at departure in Delaware Bay have lower survival than heavier birds.
Even if crab exploitation ceases immediately, scientist predict it would take years before the horseshoe crab population recovers to its former level. Other possible contributing factors in the decline include the loss of critical habitats, contamination and the spread of non-controlled tourism activities at their wintering and migration areas.
"The death of more than 1,300 Red Knots in Uruguay is of particular concern given the low overall population size.” —Rob Clay, Conservation Manager, BirdLife’s Americas Secretariat
Recent unexplained Red Knot die-offs have highlighted further the need for research into the variety of threats afflicting the already declining rufa population.
In April, 312 dead Red Knot Calidris canutus rufa were discovered by a park guard at Playa La Coronilla in northern Uruguay and the same day over 1,000 birds were found dead at a second site nearby. Of the events Joaquín Aldabe, IBA coordinator at Aves Uruguay (BirdLife in Uruguay) commented: "It seems possible that harmful algal blooms could be related to it, although additional studies are required in order to fully understand this unexpected event."
Aves Uruguay, in connection with other national and international organisations, is already working in the area to establish the possible causes of the casualties and the role of Uruguay as stopover for the species.
“The death of more than 1,300 Red Knots in Uruguay is of particular concern given the low overall population size,” said Rob Clay, Conservation Manager of BirdLife’s Americas Secretariat. “This number represents over 6% of the [rufa] population, all of which winter in southern South America. The discovery underlines the need to better understand factors which may be affecting the species during migration and on its wintering grounds.”
The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN), a partnership of organisations working to conserve shorebirds and their habitats through a network of key sites across the Americas, will soon release a Species Conservation Action Plan for the Red Knot in the Western Hemisphere.
The plan is the work of the Red Knot Species Assessment Team, comprising dozens of expert authors across the hemisphere. Charles Duncan, Director of the Executive Office of WHSRN said: “We are committed to working collaboratively with partners, like BirdLife’s network of affiliates, at the enormous geographic scale needed to ensure not only the survival, but the recovery of healthy populations, of Red Knots and other shorebirds in the Americas. This will require targeted conservation action, scientific understanding of the causes of the declines, and monitoring of threats and population levels.

kenny

08-17-2007, 10:47 AM

this is really good news,for a really beautiful bird
Endangered bird sightings have hopes soaring

MATT NEAL
August 17, 2007

http://the.standard.net.au/ffximage/2007/08/17/parrot,0.jpg More sightings of the rare orange-bellied parrots in the wild have raised hopes about the bird's future.
NINE orange-bellied parrots have been seen around the Yambuk wetlands, sparking hopes numbers of the critically endangered birds are on the rise.
The parrot is considered one of the rarest kinds of bird in the world.
The species has gathered media attention in recent years because it was feared the increase in wind turbines around Victoria would cause migration problems.
A turbine was removed from the plan of the Yambuk wind farm, which is built on the Deen Maar indigenous protected area, to lessen the impact on the birds.
Department of Sustainability and Environment senior biodiversity officer Andrew Govanstone said he was not aware of any orange-bellied parrots being killed or injured by turbines.

Mr Govanstone said the sighting of nine parrots was fantastic news.
He said it was even more important because it was estimated about half a dozen of the birds existed on the mainland of Australia.
``It's excellent. It's definitely a significant number,'' Mr Govanstone said.
``In South Australia they had up to six birds in the entire state.''
There are estimated to be about 200 birds in the wild, most of which migrate between the mainland and their usual home in Tasmania.
Framlingham Aboriginal Trust chairman Lionel Harradine said the sightings vindicated the trust's decision to allow the wind farm at Deen Maar. ``We have always felt that the carefully located wind turbines would not cause (the orange-bellied parrots) any harm,'' Mr Harradine said.

``In fact, observation over the last four years since the turbines were built shows how well birds have adapted to (the turbines') presence.''

kenny

08-21-2007, 09:38 AM

Island owl needs protection, say experts

The number of saw-whet owls on Haida Gwaii has declined so much that a group of wildlife experts and scientists is recommending the federal government add the subspecies to the list of animals at risk in Canada. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada says the saw-whet owl population here has declined by about 40-percent since industrial logging started, and that its habitat continues to disappear. The little owls live only in old-growth or mature forests, moving into old tree cavities originally inhabited by hairy woodpeckers or sapsuckers. The saw-whet owls found on the islands are distinct from those on the mainland, said species at risk coordinator Berry Wijdeven. They are smaller and their feathers are darker. They also go out to the beach to forage for food, which mainland saw-whets don't do. The committee has recommended the federal government list the Haida Gwaii saw-whet as threatened. The government will likely make a decision on that recommendation in a few months, Mr. Wijdeven said. If the government agrees with the recommendation, then an owl recovery team will be set up, Mr. Wijdeven explained. The team will have two years to come up with a recovery strategy, which must be approved by the provincial and federal governments. It sounds like a slow process, but the strategy can have large implications, he said, as it can require that owl habitat be protected from logging. Animals currently listed as threatened on Haida Gwaii include the goshawk, the Haida ermine, and the marbled murrelet. Mr. Wijdeven said the saw-whet is not as elusive as the rarely-seen Haida ermine. In the spring, he went out into the forest and played a recording of their call to see if any would respond, and heard quite a few of them. In the fall, there are often a couple of saw-whets hit by cars turned into his office, as they seem to migrate from the interior of the forest out to the coast at that time of year, he said. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife estimates the population of saw-whet owls on the islands at about 1,850 birds, many living in Gwaii Haanas. The fact that Gwaii Haanas is a protected area tipped the balance for the committee to recommend the owls be listed as threatened rather than endangered, Mr. Wijdeven said. In addition to habitat destruction from logging, the owls are threatened by introduced species and vehicles.

http://www.qciobserver.com/thumbnail.asmx?table=0&id=467 (http://www.qciobserver.com/Pictures.aspx?table=0&id=467) This is the one that's in decline
created August 20, 2007 4:18 PM

Waxbillman

08-21-2007, 09:47 AM

would be a shame to lose them, their eyes are huge, especially for the size of the bird

Matthew

kenny

08-21-2007, 10:15 AM

hi matt
i agree they are lovely little birds

ken

kenny

09-09-2007, 02:52 PM

Rare Red Knot Going Extinct (http://gregladen.com/wordpress/?p=1234)

Posted on September 8th, 2007 by Greg
http://gregladen.com/wordpress/wp-content/graphics/redknotflock.jpg Click HERE (http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/press_releases_folder/2007/07_24_2007_new_report_shows_red_knot_faces_extinct ion.php) to save the red knot.
From the Defenders of Wildlife:
A new status assessment from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) shows that numbers of a rare migratory shorebird, the rufa red knot, continue to decline dramatically. The plunging numbers, according to the report, boost the likelihood that the red knot could be extinct “within the next decade.”
The release last Friday of this long-awaited assessment of the rufa subspecies of the red knot confirms the information that conservation groups presented to FWS in 2005 in two detailed petitions seeking protection for the bird under the Endangered Species Act. Both petitions were denied by FWS. In light of this new comprehensive report, the groups believe that FWS has no further excuse not to list the knot as endangered.
The report was issued on the same day that FWS announced it would review agency actions regarding eight species where Deputy Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald, a political appointee, inappropriately influenced scientific decisions. The groups are also calling on FWS to re-examine its December 2005 decision not to emergency list the red knot to ensure that proper procedures were followed by the agency.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service’s own assessment demonstrates that the red knot is on a path to extinction and warrants the protection of the Endangered Species Act,” said Caroline Kennedy, senior director for field conservation at Defenders of Wildlife. “With such clear evidence at hand, it seems likely that the agency’s decision not to offer federal protection to the red knot was based on politics, not science.”
The report identifies the main threat to the red knot as “the reduced availability of horseshoe crabs eggs in Delaware Bay arising from elevated harvest of adult crabs for bait in the conch and eel fishing industries.” Red knots rely on horseshoe crab eggs to gain the weight they need to successfully complete a nonstop flight to their Canadian arctic breeding grounds. Since the 1990s, over-harvesting of horseshoe crabs has caused the supply of eggs to plummet, and red knot numbers in Delaware Bay have declined from a high of more than 100,000 birds in the 1980s to fewer than 15,000 today.
“Today’s red knot update from the Fish and Wildlife Service is further proof that the federal government and states need to take immediate and effective action now, or our children won’t get to see these amazing shorebirds,” said Darin Schroeder, managing director of conservation advocacy for the American Bird Conservancy.
“The science is clear - red knots are facing imminent risk of extinction,” said Eric Stiles, vice president for conservation and stewardship for the New Jersey Audubon Society. “The Delaware Bay is rapidly descending toward ecological disaster. We must act now to protect this world-class shorebird and horseshoe crab spectacle for future generations.”
In September 2006, FWS categorized the red knot as a candidate for endangered species listing but said its status did not warrant priority listing. The knot joined more than 275 other species languishing on this waiting list, where the average wait for protection is about 15 years. That’s more time than the agency claims the red knot has left.
“The Bush administration’s failure to protect the red knot despite ample evidence that it is hurtling toward extinction is inexcusable,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society. “Unless the Fish and Wildlife Service acts now to provide meaningful protections for red knots and their habitat, we could be the last generation to experience the migration of red knots through Delaware Bay.”
In May 2006, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) failed to approve a moratorium on the harvest of horseshoe crabs and instead supported reduced quotas and the take only of male crabs. According to the status assessment, conservation actions taken to date regarding the horseshoe crab harvest may have stabilized the crab population but there is no evidence of recovery.
“One of the primary conclusions from this assessment is the critical link between reduced horseshoe crab egg densities and the decline of the red knot,” said Nicholas DiPasquale, conservation chair for Delaware Audubon. “We must make every effort to optimize the availability of horseshoe crab eggs if this bird is to survive.”
“The whole world is watching,” said Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper. “So far we have been failing horribly in taking the aggressive steps necessary to protect the red knot from extinction. The ecological relationship between the red knot and the horseshoe crabs are critical for our local ecosystems and economy - we cannot afford to fail, on any level.”
The Bush administration has added the fewest number of species to the endangered list than any other administration since 1973. To date, the Bush administration has protected just 58 species under the Endangered Species Act, compared to 512 under the Clinton administration and 231 under the administration of George H.W. Bush.
A copy of the status assessment can be found on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website.

kenny

09-12-2007, 01:46 PM

http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/300/b_mauritius_parakeet_d_hanson.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_mauritius_parakeet.html&width=&caption=) D. Hanson / www.mauritian-wildlife.org
The 2007 Red List reveals unprecedented species are now threatened with extinction - yet success stories like Mauritius Parakeet show that coordinated conservation reaps reward.
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_mauritius_parakeet.html&width=400&caption=The 2007 Red List reveals unprecedented species are now threatened with extinction - yet success stories like Mauritius Parakeet show that coordinated conservation reaps reward.) More birds than ever face extinction – but success stories highlight way forward

12-09-2007
As the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals the scale of the escalating extinction crisis occurring across the planet, an unobtrusive parakeet from Mauritius is showing that, with funding and dedicated fieldworkers, species can recover from the brink of extinction. [1]
Released today, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals that unprecedented numbers of species are now threatened with extinction. For birds, the Red List is maintained by BirdLife International, who report that 1,221 species are considered threatened with extinction. The overall conservation status of the world’s birds has deteriorated steadily since 1988, when they were first comprehensively assessed. [2]
189 birds are now listed as Critically Endangered - the highest threat category. [3]
"...species can be helped to recover even from the brink of extinction." —Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife's Global Species Programme Coordinator
Yet even among these severely threatened birds is a small number whose survival odds are improving, providing case-studies to others for how species can be successfully saved. The most encouraging recovery seen in the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species was Mauritius (Echo) Parakeet, once dubbed “the rarest parrot on Earth”.
Mauritius Parakeet Psittacula eques –a green parrot, males of which have a bright red bill - was once down to just 10 birds in the 1970s, but today saw the World Conservation Union (IUCN) announce its move from Critically Endangered to Endangered.
“Mauritius Parakeet is an inspiring example of how species can be helped to recover even from the brink of extinction,” commented Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife’s Global Species Coordinator.
In the last century the species has suffered from a multitude of threats all of which contributed to substantial declines; yet concerted actions, involving local and international conservationists, the government and people of Mauritius –with support from an array of international funders- has seen the species’ chances of survival improve. [4]
“Our work in saving other Critically Endangered birds on Mauritius has taught us that you must tackle the root causes of decline and be prepared to address these issues first,” says Vikash Tatayah of the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation (MWF), the island’s sole terrestrial conservation NGO.
For Mauritius Parakeet, these threats included introduced nest predators (in particular Black Rat), decline of the native fruits on which the parakeets feed (itself outcompeted by invasive non-native plants, and eaten by feral pigs), and a loss of suitable nesting sites.
“These parrots only naturally nest in old canopy trees, which are disappearing across the island,” Vikash explains. “Many years of hard work went into tackling the shortage of nest sites and finally we’ve come up with a design acceptable to Echo Parakeets and requiring less maintenance. The parakeets now nest in artificial cavities more than the traditional nest cavities.”
“The artificial cavities also control for invasive nest predators –another long-term threat to the birds,” Vikash continues. “The boxes are rat-proofed, overhanging trees are trimmed, we poison for rats on the ground, and staple plastic sheeting around trees to reduce predation of eggs and chicks by rats. These are simple but essential measures to help get the population back on its feet.”
http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/200/b_mauritius_parakeet_cavity.jpg.jpg (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_mauritius_parakeet2.html&width=&caption=) Ben Lascelles
Natural cavities for nesting are now in short supply on the island, so MWF have invested in artificial cavities - which have been a booming success.
Zoom In (http://www.birdlife.org/zoom.html?desc=images/photos/b_mauritius_parakeet2.html&width=400&caption=Natural cavities for nesting are now in short supply on the island, so MWF have invested in artificial cavities - which have been a booming success.)
“Across the world there are dedicated people struggling to repeat this story for other species, but they need the resources to achieve this.” —Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife's Global Species Programme Coordinator
This is the third such downlisting to occur on Mauritius in recent years due to the efforts of MWF. In 2000, Pink Pigeon Nesoenas mayeri, down to just nine birds a decade earlier, was downlisted to Endangered and now numbers 400 birds. Likewise, Mauritius Kestrel Falco punctatus, went from just four birds in 1974 and now numbers approximately 1,000 individuals.
On being asked the secret of their success Vikash answers: “It’s no use saying ‘a parrot is a parrot, a pigeon is a pigeon’; instead we must ask how we can use the lessons we have learnt on restoring populations of other threatened birds – we must pass information on, learn from our experiences and the experiences of other projects worldwide.”
“We’ve needed fantastic support and that’s what we’ve got: both technical and financial but you also need excellent and dedicated people in the field. Whilst funding is crucial, equally so is having trained people in the field – people make the difference.”
The news is of encouragement to those working in conservation within the BirdLife Partnership, once again proving that with adequate investment and trained people on the ground, threatened species do recover. [5]
Two weeks ago the first Mauritius Parakeet eggs of the season were laid and MWF is confident that, due to good native fruit season, a sufficient number of young parrots will fledge to maintain the population.
“Mauritius Parakeet is still Endangered – we still have lots of work to do,” states Vikash. MWF will continue conservation work on the species until the Mauritius Parakeet population is self-sustaining, but by working to maintain habitats, control predators and promote biodiversity they hope to improve the survival odds of other species that too depend on the island’s biodiversity. “People included,” adds Vikash.
“Like other species that have been saved from extinction, reversing the fortunes of the Mauritius Parakeet took painstaking research to identify the threats, sufficient funding and sustained efforts by dedicated fieldworkers to implement the necessary actions,” said BirdLife’s Dr Stuart Butchart.
“Across the world there are dedicated people struggling to repeat this story for other species, but they need the resources to achieve this.”
For more on today’s Red List 2007 announcements visit: www.iucn.org (http://www.iucn.org/)