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March 22, 2006
New guide to most important wildlife sites and first finch sighting for 66 years offers hope for Brazil's threatened birds
Curitiba, Brazil – A groundbreaking book from BirdLife International reveals that more than a quarter of Brazil’s most important places for birds and biodiversity are not officially protected by law. [1, 2]
The new book, Important Bird Areas in Brazil, coincides with the publication in BirdLife’s World Birdwatch magazine of details of the rediscovery of the Cone-billed Tanager, a small grey finch known only from the type-specimen collected in 1938, in dry forest habitat at Juruena, Central Brazil. [3, 4]
In October 2004, Brazilian ornithologist Dante Buzzetti was visiting Emas National Park to follow up a possible sighting of the species in 2003 by bird guide Bráulio A Carlos. Buzzetti heard a call at dawn he did not recognize. Playing back the calls attracted a medium brown bird he was unable to identify. A few days later, he heard a melodious song, and again using playback, brought in a male Cone-billed Tanager.
Cone-billed Tanager, Brazil © Birdlife International
Later that day, Buzzetti confirmed the brown bird he had earlier seen was a female Cone-billed Tanager; the first ever to be recorded. The following month, Buzzetti and Carlos filmed presumably the same pair of birds. Unlike published illustrations (all based on the single museum specimen), in life the bill of Cone-billed Tanager was strikingly pale, rather than black.
Since 2004, Cone-billed Tanagers have been found again at Emas National Park. In late 2005, Andre De Luca, a volunteer ornithologist for SAVE Brasil (BirdLife in Brazil), visited the park and found at least three birds in gallery forest. He commented, “To get photos of the tanager was fantastic because it’s still hard for me to believe that I’ve actually seen this enigmatic species!”
Although the rediscovery of the Cone-billed Tanager is great news for Brazil’s birds, the publication of Important Bird Areas in Brazil by SAVE Brasil highlights the problems faced by one of the most bird-rich countries in the world – particularly in its threatened Atlantic Forest habitat.
Brazil has more globally threatened birds than any other country on earth. Of the 111 species at risk of extinction, 98 live in Brazil’s Atlantic forest, already the country’s most seriously reduced habitat.
While 73% of vital sites identified in the book are in protected areas or private reserves, the remaining 27% have no official protection. Jacqueline Goerk, SAVE Brasil’s Director says that many officially protected areas of Atlantic forest suffer severe habitat degradation and hunting, and have lost bird species in recent years. “The solution is not just to create new protected areas, but to manage existing ones more effectively,” she says.
With this in mind, BirdLife International and SAVE Brasil were determined that this book should not be just another exercise in identifying priority areas for conservation, but should a pragmatic guide for action.
“Some areas are considered irreplaceable, since they contain the largest proportion of one or more species whose extinction is imminent,” said Jacqueling Goerk, Ten per cent (16) sites have been chosen as priority areas for action. SAVE Brasil is already working at seven of these, projects are at initial stages in another three, and two more are scheduled for 2006.
Notes:
[1] Áreas Importantes para a Conservação das Aves no Brasil (Important Bird Areas in Brazil) is published on 22 March 2006 by SAVE Brasil (BirdLife International in Brazil). The study took five years of hard work by more than 30 biologists and ornithologists. Among the criteria to identify an IBA are: the occurrence of threatened birds, restricted-range species, and large concentrations of birds. The book is being launched during the Conference of the Parties for the Convention on Biological Diversity at the Centro de Convenções Expotrade in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. The book is written by Glayson A. Bencke, Giovanni N. Mauricio, Pedro F. Develey and Jaqueline M. Goerck.
[2] Áreas Importantes para a Conservação das Aves no Brasil describes the 163 most important sites for birds in the 15 Brazilian states that contain Atlantic forest. The book, with text in Portuguese and English, is the first in a series which will ultimately describe all the Important Bird Areas of Brazil.
[3] BirdLife International is a partnership of people working together for birds and the environment. It promotes sustainable living as a means of conserving birds and all other forms of biodiversity and is the leading authority on the status of birds and their habitats. Over 10 million people support the BirdLife Partnership of national non-governmental conservation organisations and local networks. The Society for the Conservation of Birds in Brazil (Sociedade para a Conservação das Aves do Brasil - SAVE Brasil) is the BirdLife representative for Brazil.
[4] On 25 August 1938, Dr A Vellard collected a new species of passerine in dry forest habitat at Juruena, Central Brazil. In appearance, the new species was mostly black except for a small concealed white throat patch and white belly. The “stout and conical” bill led to its English name of Cone-billed Tanager, but remarkably it was another 66 years before the species was seen anywhere again.
Posted by Surfbirds at 06:46 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2006
Conservation effort launched to protect the threatened biodiversity of northern Peru's "forgotten" forests
Quito, Ecuador, 13 March 2006 - BirdLife International has today warned that unless the international conservation community moves quickly, species will continue to become extinct in the "forgotten" forests of the Tumbesian region of northern Peru. [1]
In flower, these deciduous dry forests once blazed a broad arc of yellows and reds from south-western Ecuador southward along the Peruvian coast to Huacho and inland to Catamayo. Today, less than 7% of original cover remains. As a result, many species are relegated to isolated and fragmented forest patches, often in remote and inaccessible areas. Of the more than 800 bird species recorded in these forests, 82 are found nowhere else on Earth (endemic) and of these, eight species are considered at extreme risk of extinction. [2]
"Enigmatic species like the endangered Marvellous Spatuletail, a hummingbird species whose pendulum-like tail feathers have attracted thousands of bird watchers from around the world, and the critically endangered and much hunted White-winged Guan, are just two of eight globally threatened birds that may disappear in our lifetime," states Dr. Amiro Perez, BirdLife International's project leader in the region.
In 2004, BirdLife International and Conservation International joined forces and mapped 33 globally Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in northern Peru as part of a massive inventory of 430 sites throughout Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia - an area referred to by Conservation International as the "Tropical Andes Hotspot".
Recognising the global importance of the dry and humid forests of northern Peru and the urgency of the situation, in 2004 the British Bird Watching Fair (Birdfair) raised an initial $300,000 to support immediate on-the-ground conservation action aimed at supporting the conservation of eight of the most critical IBAs previously identified. [3, 4]
Together with a number of national and international non-governmental organisations, BirdLife will support a variety of pilot projects ranging from the re-introduction of the White-winged Guan into Chaparri and Laquipampa (where it had been extirpated), habitat restoration in Pomacochas (one of the few sites in the world for the Marvelous Spatuletail), and the construction of an interpretative centre to raise local awareness of the Long-whiskered Owlet (one of the rarest and most secretive owls in the Americas). [5]
Says Dr. Hugo Arnal, Northern Andes Program Director of the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), "We need to move exceptionally fast if we are going to protect some of the few remaining tracks of forest in this region and the key to our success will depend on forging strong alliances with local groups who have the on-the-ground experience and regional knowledge to help move conservation forward."
Nature and Culture International's Peruvian Director, Luis Alban agrees. "Local community engagement and support is critical. Local farmers in this region can earn as little as a dollar per day. We need to provide better alternatives to the traditional slash and burn agriculture that is in large part, responsible for the massive loss of the dry forests in Peru and throughout the tropics."
To address the needs of communities in and adjacent to the IBAs, BirdLife with support from the Birdfair has created a fund to support activities that promote alternative practices that are less harmful to the habitat and species of these sites. [6]
Notes for Editors
[1] BirdLife International is a global alliance of conservation organisations working in more than 100 countries which, together, are the leading authority on the status of birds, their habitats and the issues and problems affecting bird life.
[2] Globally Threatened Species in the region:
Grey-cheeked Parakeet (Brotogeris pyrrhopterus) - Endangered
Blackish-headed (Spinetail Synallaxis tithys) - Endangered
Slaty Becard (Pachyramphus spodiurus) - Endangered
White-winged (Guan Penelope albipennis) - Critically Endangered
Peruvian Plantcutter (Phytotoma raimondii) - Endangered
Long-whiskered Owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi) - Endangered
Ochre-fronted Antpitta (Grallaricula ochraceifrons) - Endangered
Marvellous Spatuletail (Loddigesia mirabilis) - Endangered
[3] The British Birdwatching Fair (also known as the Birdfair) is the UK's premier event for people interested in birds and other wildlife and is held at Rutland Water nature reserve every August. The Fair is jointly organised by the RSPB and the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. In its 17-year history the Birdfair has raised almost £1.5 million for international bird conservation projects. For more details, including travel details, please visit the Birdfair website: http://www.birdfair.org.uk/
[4] The eight most critical Important Bird Area sites are: Coto de Caza de Angolo (PE002), Talara (PE003), Cuyas (PE005), the locality of Limon at Olmos (PE011), Laquipampa (PE015), Chaparri (PE018), Lagunas de Pomacochas (PE054), and the locality of Abra Patricia at Alto Mayo (PE055).
[5] National and international non-governmental organisations and government agencies involved include Consejo Nacional del Ambiente - CONAM (National Council for the Environment), Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales - INRENA (National Institute for Natural Resources) and the tourism agency PromPeru. Other conservation organisations involved are: American Bird Conservancy (ABC), CARE, Cracidea Foundation, ECOAN, Nature and Culture International and the Naymlap Foundation.
[6] BirdLife together with Nature and Culture International and Fundación ProBosque in Ecuador are raising awareness of the value of the Tumbesian Forests at the local, regional, national and international levels through a bi-national Clearing House Mechanism called DarwinNet (http://www.darwinnet.org/)
Posted by Surfbirds at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)
Iraq marshes exhibition in Norfolk
Over the past two years BirdLife International has been helping train Iraqi biologists to carry out bird and other wildlife surveys of the internationally important Mesopotamian Marshes.
The Ornithological Society of the Middle East (OSME) contributed £1000 from its Conservation and Research Fund towards this training.
Part of the Canada-Iraq Marshland Initiative (CIMI) - and funded by the Canadian Government - the training has, for reasons of security, been carried out in Syria and Jordan. The Iraqi team are from a new NGO, Nature Iraq, and already one summer and two winter surveys have been undertaken. Whilst only a shadow of their former self, due to drainage during the Saddam Hussein regime, the marshes of southern Iraq are still hugely important for their breeding and wintering bird populations. They hold 18 globally threatened species as well as three endemics (Iraq Babbler, Basra Reed Warbler and Grey Hypocolius (near-endemic)). Now that a re-flooding and rehabilitation programme has started there is great optimism for their future.
During these surveys Iraqi biologists took photos of the marshlands depicting their moods and the way of life of the Marsh Arabs. These are to be featured in an exhibition hosted by BirdLife International and the new BIRDscapes Gallery in Glandford, near Cley in North Norfolk. It will run from 22 April to 2 May 2006 and all are welcome.
Anyone wanting further details should contact Steve or Liz Harris at BIRDscapes (01263 741742)
For further information on the BirdLife International project please contact Richard Porter (email: richardporter@dialstart.net)
OSME Contact details
Dawn Balmer, 39 Station Road, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU.
Tel: 01842 766734.
E-mail: dawn.balmer@bto.org
Posted by Surfbirds at 05:19 PM | Comments (0)