Auteur: Henk Tennekes

In Hawaii’s Kauai island, the native forest birds are in peril. Once considered a paradise for the colorful songbirds, the island has lost more than half of those native species. Of the eight forest bird species on the island, three are listed as endangered. Among them is the puaiohi. The small gray and brown bird with pink feet now numbers less than 500. It feeds on the fruits of native plants and plays a vital role in seed dispersal. Native Hawaiian songs tell stories of the islands, including one that was inspired by the last mating call of a now extinct bird, the Kauai O’o (Moho braccatus). “We still sing it with hope in our hearts,” says Sabra Kauka, a Native Hawaiian who is a revered teacher of the island’s culture. “Our seabirds, our mountain birds they are just indicators of the health of the earth,” she says.

Source: KBIA, 24 July 2017
http://kbia.org/post/native-forest-birds-kauai-peril#stream/0

The extremely rare green peafowl (Pavo muticus) is a close cousin of the more common blue peacock (Pavo cristatus) found across the Indian subcontinent. The green peafowl, too, was once widespread, but less than 20,000 individuals remain in the world today, mostly scattered across Southeast Asia. The green peafowl’s populations are in serious decline and the species is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. China is home to about 500 of these birds, all of which are known to occur only in the Yunnan province. Greenpeace and other conservationists have called for an immediate evaluation of green peafowl populations in China and urgent protection of the bird’s habitat. “We do not quite clearly know about the green peafowl’s distribution and activities and further surveys to clarify this are urgently needed,” Han Lianxian, a professor of zoology at Southwest Forestry College in Kunming, said.

Source: The News Lens, 26 July 2017
https://international.thenewslens.com/article/74146

The Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang) is a small, insectivorous woodland bird whose male population sports a bright red breast and a white cap. Many are lucky enough to still see them around paddocks and homesteads in the cooler months. However, they are a species in serious decline. It has been determined by the NSW Scientific Committee that the Scarlet Robin is facing a high risk of extinction in NSW in the medium-term future. The ‘Save Our Scarlet Robin’ project is funded by the NSW Government via its Environmental Trust and will run for 10 years (to 2026) in the south east of NSW.
The involvement of the community is vital to the recovery and long-term security of the threatened woodland birds in our region. By becoming more aware of the needs of the birds, we can work to improve the quality of their habitat, the loss of which is the largest threat they face. We work with land managers by looking at the whole-farm and designing a plan that secures the long-term integration of native flora and fauna values with long-term farm productivity goals, and then take steps to work toward those goals. Revegetating creek-lines and putting in some ‘stepping stone’ native vegetation patches in the paddocks not only provides an important refuge for threatened woodland birds, but also controls erosion, cleans the water, provides shade and shelter to livestock, pollen to the bees and insects, as well as gives an all-round increase in property value and amenity.

Source: Felicity Sturgiss, South East Local Land Services in Yass Tribune, 27 July 2017
http://www.yasstribune.com.au/story/4816605/scarlet-robin-is-a-species-in-decline/