From BirdLife:
Seychelles Magpie-robin success28-07-2006
A team from Nature Seychelles (BirdLife in the Seychelles) and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust visited Frégate Island from the 28 June to 6 July 2006 to conduct a full population survey of the globally threatened Seychelles Magpie-robin Copsychus sechellarum, and to ring un-ringed robins in order to maintain identification of all individual[s] on the island.
A minimum population of 82 individuals was recorded—ten more than the previous census in April 2005 and the highest number of robins ever recorded on Frégate.
The Seychelles Magpie-robin population is now at an all-time high of 178 birds with 82 on Frégate, 46 on Cousin, 32 on Cousine and 18 on Aride.
There are also future plans to translocate birds to Denis Island.
The species was downlisted by BirdLife to Endangered in the 2005 IUCN Red List.
The most important accessory which you have to bring with you on the Seychelles is earplugs. A good beginning for a journey report! Maybe I should call it ”travel impressions”,yes, that will do. Concerning the importance of earplugs: birds, dogs, cocks and other animals make every morning at about 6.00 pm an unbearable noise. The tropical rain which rains down on sheet metal roofs and plastic-like palm leafs often before sunrise sounds like a train passing by.
Comment by gk — October 21, 2006 @ 5:42 pm
Thanks gk. However, I do like birds’ noise!
Comment by Administrator — October 21, 2006 @ 7:10 pm
Seychelles tries to save endangered bird
5:07AM 20 December 2006
VICTORIA (Reuters) - Wildlife experts in the Seychelles have launched a last ditch attempt to save a rare tropical bird facing possible extinction in the Indian Ocean archipelago, conservationists said on Wednesday.
There are only about 200 Paradise Flycatchers left — all of them confined to La Digue, the third largest of the Seychelles’ 115 palm-fringed islands. Experts say that makes them especially vulnerable to disease or a natural disaster.
Islanders are being urged to fell fewer trees and use fewer of the insecticides that threaten the habitat and food of the bird — called Zwazi Linet, “the bespectacled one,” in the local Creole language.
“The species could be wiped out in a blink. This is a last ditch attempt to save it,” Nimal Shahm, chief executive officer of environment group Nature Seychelles, told Reuters.
He said residents of sleepy La Digue — which boasts only six cars and attracts many tourists with its laidback lifestyle — had resisted attempts to breed the bird on other islands.
They wanted to keep it exclusive to La Digue, he said, where its name adorns guesthouses, boats and cafes,
Comment by Administrator — December 20, 2006 @ 4:14 pm