Posted by Stuart Marsden, Nigel Collar & Roland Wirth
We hope to soon start a project which will examine the status and conservation needs of endemic
birds on the remote islands of Sangihe and Talaud. Here, Stu, Nigel Collar
(BirdLife International) and Roland Wirth (ZGAP) discuss the islands’
incredible ornithological importance, the lack of recent knowledge of their
birds, and, with the recent seizure of a
large illegal shipment of endemic parrots on Talaud, the desperate need for
conservation action on the islands.
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| The Sangihe and Talaud islands, Indonesia, situated to the south of the Philippines and north of Sulawesi |
The
small and remote Indonesian islands of Sangihe and Talaud hold the highest
concentration of highly threatened bird species anywhere in Asia (and possibly
the world). The islands, with a land area of only 2,000 sq km, have long been
noted for their endemism and conservation importance, but only now is the
degree of this importance truly emerging. Fifteen years ago, Stattersfield et al. (1998) listed five species of
bird restricted to the Sangihe and Talaud ‘Endemic Bird Area’. Since then,
however, a proliferation of taxonomic revisions and discoveries has resulted in
the addition of several more species - Sangihe now possesses nine endemic bird
species and Talaud four. Incredibly, there are six Critically endangered, three
Endangered, and two Vulnerable bird species in an area a little larger than
Greater London.
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| Talaud Kingfisher (Photo: James Eaton - www.birdtourasia.com) |
Roll call of
rarity
Sangihe Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx sangirensis [Critically Endangered]
Sangihe
Shrike-thrush Colluricincla sanghirensis Critically Endangered
Sangihe
Golden Bulbul Thapsinillas platenae [Critically Endangered]
Caerulean
Paradise-flycatcher Eutrichomyias rowleyi Critically Endangered
Sangihe
White-eye Zosterops nehrkorni Critically Endangered
Siau
Scops-owl Otus siaoensis Critically Endangered
Elegant
Sunbird Aethopyga duyvenbodei Endangered
Talaud Rail
Gymnocrex talaudensis Endangered
Red-and-blue
Lory Eos histrio Endangered
Talaud
Bush-hen Amaurornis magnirostris Vulnerable
Grey
Imperial-pigeon Ducula pickeringii Vulnerable
Nicobar
Pigeon Caloenas nicobarica Near Threatened
Sangihe
Hanging-parrot Loriculus catamene Near Threatened
Sangihe
Kingfisher Cittura sanghirensis [Near Threatened]
Talaud
Kingfisher Todiramphus enigma Near Threatened
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| One of the few non-threatened endemic birds on Sangihe and the only one named after Nigel: Sangihe Scops-owl Otus collari (Photo: James Eaton, www.birdtourasia.com) |
Most
of these species are dependent on the islands’ dwindling forest. Critically, there
appears to have been no update on the status of birds in the islands since the
Action Sampiri expeditions of the mid- to late 1990s (Riley 1997; Riley &
Wardill 2001), which were financed in part by Loro Parque Fundación. There are,
however, reports of declines in some forest species, e.g. Caerulean
Paradise-flycatcher and Sangihe Shrike-thrush (Sykes 2009), numbers of which
appear to lie in the region of just 20‒50 individuals each. Moreover, this
century, despite annual visits by bird tours, the Sangihe Golden Bulbul appears
to have been seen only twice and the Sangihe Dwarf-kingfisher and Sangihe
White-eye not at all.
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| One of only three specimens of Sangihe Golden Bulbul. This from Naturalis, Leiden (Photo: Nigel Collar) |
A recent visit to northern Sulawesi by Roland Wirth revealed potentially devastating news for the islands’ birds. A consignment of 111 Red-and-blue Lories were seized by police in Talaud in November 2013. These birds were bound for the Philippines. Reports suggest that 800 or as many as 1,800 lories per year are taken from the island by this one dealer. As well as trade in its own parrots, Talaud appears to also be a major stepping stone of wildlife trade from elsewhere in Indonesia to the Philippines. A rare Javan leopard Panthera pardus melas was also confiscated in the Talaud islands some time ago.
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| Shipment of 111 Red-and-blue Lories confiscated in Talaud. All birds were covered in honey solution, so birds would lick each other and remain quiet during the smuggling (Photo: Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Center). |
According
to Michael Wangko of the local NGO KOMPAK, there are now fewer than ten known
roosts left occupied by lories on the island - each with just 100-300
birds. Parrots are
captured at these roosts by covering branches with sticky bird lime or snares made of nylon fishing line. The surviving birds
are now being cared for by Simon Purser and staff at the Tasikoki Wildlife
Rescue Centre (www.tasikoki.org) in northern Sulawesi.
Our project aims to
- Estimate densities, population sizes and examine habitat associations of all birds;
- Identify current forest coverage and forest loss over the last 20 years;
- Evaluate human use of and impacts on protected areas and other key sites
- Evaluate trade and trapping pressure on all parrot species
- Make recommendations for habitat management, site regulation and policy improvement.
References
Riley,
J. (1997) Biological surveys and
conservation priorities on the Sangihe and Talaud
islands, Indonesia: the final
report of Action Sampiri 1995–1997. Cambridge, UK: CSB Conservation
Publications.
Riley, J. & Wardill, J. C. (2001)The rediscovery
of the Cerulean Paradise-flycatcher Eutrichomyias rowleyi on Sangihe,
Indonesia. Forktail 17: 45–55.
Stattersfield,
A. J., Crosby, M. J., Long, M. J. &Wege, D. C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the world: priorities for biodiversity
conservation. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International (Conservation Series
7).
Sykes, B. (2009) OBC conservation: news update and requests for
practical help. BirdingASIA 12: 107–108.