BirdLife International is reporting that a record number of today’s Endangered All-Star, the White-Shouldered Ibis, have turned up in Cambodia. In a recent census, 429 birds were counted, a startling—if welcome—increase of 30% of the previous number, estimated at 330. Experts remain concerned, however, since most of the population lies outside of protected areas.
Wars & Hornbills
No one ever forgets their first hornbill. I once got to know a persistent young Von Der Decken’s Hornbill north of Mt. Kenya who was attracted to the morning fruit plate: Bold, curious, possessed of a brilliant thieving intelligence, the hornbills are as thrilling and colorful as parrots in both plumage and personality. For hornbill-lovers, there’s a wonderful new interview on Mongabay: As part of the website’s run-up to the 5th Frugivore and Seed Dispersal International Symposium in June, Jeremy Hance talks with Shumpei Kitamura, plant ecologist and seed dispersal specialist on the importance of hornbills in Asian forests. They act, Kitamura says, as “mobile links,” carrying seeds between fragmented or logged areas, helping to re-seed, diversify, and restore forests.
That’s why the decline of the Sulu Hornbill, today’s Endangered All-Star, is especially distressing. With a population limited to perhaps 40 on the mountain range of a single island, Tawitawi, in the Philippines, the Sulu Hornbill is holding out against logging, deforestation of nearby islands where it might once have found refuge, and a disruptive insurgency that prevents conservationists from protecting its last home. If you or your institution can help, the Sulu Hornbill needs a BirdLife Species Champion who can raise funds to turn things around: BirdLife International estimates that it costs 20,000 pounds a year to save each critically endangered species.
Photo: Desmond Allen, Wild Bird Club of the Philippines
Avoid the Curse of the Ancient Mariner
Coleridge’s nightmarish poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” describes the havoc wreaked upon a ship and its crew after an old sailor shoots an albatross and is condemned to wander the earth, zombielike, haranguing hapless passersby with his endless tale. The moral? “loveth best / All things great and small.” In other words, leave the albatross alone!
Sadly, today’s mariners did not get the Coleridge memo: Their longlines and factory trawlers have steeply reduced numbers of today’s Endangered All-Star, the beautiful Black-browed Albatross. Based on current losses, an estimated 65% of the species will be wiped out over the next 65 years. To reduce needless bird mortality—one fishing boat can snag and drown dozens of seabirds on a single trip, and Namibia’s longline industry alone hauls in 30,000 birds a year—Birdlife International is funding an Albatross Task Force. In Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Namibia, Uruguay, and Argentina, Task Force personnel are spreading the word about how to reduce bird bycatch through the use of streamer lines to frighten off birds and weights to sink longlines. The industry could also clean up its act: Releasing longlines at night and reducing bait and other waste would save albatross lives.
Three-quarters of the world’s remaining Black-browed Albatross nest in the Falkland Islands off of Argentina, in spectacular nesting sites where they construct tall pillar-like nests, used year after year, of mud, guano, and seaweed among tussock grass on the islands’ spectacular cliffs. Falklands Conservation, which works for many threatened species on the islands, has published helpful pdf guides for landowners and the fishing industry.
You too can avoid the curse of the Ancient Mariner: Refuse to buy fish (especially Chilean seabass or Patagonian toothfish) caught on longlines: Consult the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guide while shopping or eating out.
Photo: © Hanne & Jens Eriksen / naturepl.com
Azores Bullfinch
Save Them All: The Azores Bullfinch is today’s Endangered All-Star, considered the most critically endangered passerine—or perching bird—in the world. With a population estimated at 775 in 2008, the Azores Bullfinch is endemic to São Miguel Island in the Azores, an island archipelago in the North Atlantic and occupies little more than two square miles of one hillside. The species was once common and considered a pest in fruit orchards, but after 1920, with widespread clearing of local laurel forest and the resultant takeover of much of the island by invasive species, the bird was driven at one point to as few as 30-40 pairs.
BirdLife International enlisted the Bullfinch in its Preventing Extinctions Program, which has sought “Species Champions” for all 189 critically endangered birds, to fund conservation work. For the Azores Bullfinch, BirdWatch Magazine stepped in as sponsor and so far has raised nearly 52,000 pounds (approximately $81,000.) The money is being spent on clearing invasive species, planting appropriate native food plants for the bird, and producing educational materials for local schools. Ecotourism services are also being improved, for birders who want to visit the area. To donate to this effort, check out the BirdWatch JustGiving site.
Photo: © Gonçalo M. Rosa for ARKive
