Seychelles paradise-flycatcher - habitat danger

Habitat danger for Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher

The illegal felling of mature trees on La Digue island, the stronghold of the Critically Endangered Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone corvina has been exposed by the local media. In a front page article, the newspaper Le Seychelles Hebdo revealed the shocking story. The damage includes the felling and cropping of several native tree species used by the bird.


The owner of the land had made an application for a tourism development but the Department of Environment had put this on hold so as to carry out a survey. The owner apparently went ahead with land clearing. “Clearing of land and felling of the tree species in question which are protected by law require authorisation by the land use & planning authority and the Department of Environment respectively”, said Nirmal Shah, Chief Executive of Nature Seychelles (BirdLife Partner).

The land owner and the contractor who undertook the works have been fined 50,000 Seychelles Rupees each (about US$ 4,000) by the environment authorities. According to sources on La Digue those fined are refusing to pay and have their own case against the government.

Nature Seychelles, the flycatcher’s BirdLife Species Guardian is currently undertaking a small education and advocacy project on La Digue in collaboration with the Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA). The project is funded by Viking Optical, the BirdLife Species Champion.

“The habitat on this tiny island will always be under threat because of increasing development, and consumerism. This is why we established a second population on Denis Island”, says Nirmal Shah. There is a now a breeding population on Denis after the translocation of 23 birds in November 2008 by the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology and Nature Seychelles.

La Digue is a picturesque but rapidly changing island. The Seychelles Government is now investigating the possibility of making La Digue carbon neutral after Cousin Island Special Reserve, managed by Nature Seychelles, showed the way forward by becoming the world’s first carbon neutral nature reserve. “In fact, recent news that the government will phase out all fossil fuel vehicles on La Digue so that only electric ones are used in the future is an excellent move for general environmental protection and eco tourism on the island”, says Shah.

This news is brought to you by the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme.

http://www.birdlife.org/community/2011/12/habitat-danger-for-seychelles-paradise-flycatcher/

Shark attack Briton 'had no chance'

A British man killed by a shark in the Seychelles had "no chance of surviving", local police have said.

Ian Redmond, 30, from Lancashire, was on honeymoon when the attack happened off Anse Lazio beach on Praslin, the second largest island in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

One onlooker said she saw the victim's wife saying she "still had hope" for her husband while he lay on the beach with horrific injuries.

But police spokesman Jean Toussaint said Mr Redmond had been "badly injured" on the hips and lost an arm in the attack, which occurred while he was swimming in the early evening.

"We haven't got the autopsy report yet but he definitely lost a lot of blood. He had no chance of surviving because of the nature of the injuries," he added.

Earlier this month a 36-year-old French tourist was killed by a shark in the same area. Government officials have issued a ban on swimming in certain areas until the shark is captured.

Jeanne Vargiolu, 56, owner of a nearby restaurant, said she went to the beach after hearing ambulance sirens to find a French doctor treating the man and "a lot of police officers" surrounding him.

She said police told her the man had lost one arm, had a badly damaged leg and holes in his chest and stomach from shark bites. She added: "They were trying to help him but they could not get him alive."

Mr Toussaint confirmed that Mr Redmond and his wife were in the second week of their honeymoon and had been due to fly home on Sunday.

He said "a big effort" is now under way to catch the shark. "We had this first incident two weeks ago and for the local community it was a freak incident because it had never been reported before around the islands. It took everybody by surprise," he added.

Paradise-flycatcher breeds on second island for first time in 60 years

Hope for Seychelles' last Critically Endangered species
Courtesy of Birdlife InternationalJune 2009. The first Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher chicks to fledge successfully outside La Digue Island in the Seychelles for over 60 years are flying on Denis Island, a coral island in the inner Seychelles group. The newly-fledged birds are flying well, very noisy, and being fed by their parents -"typical normal and healthy flycatcher chicks", according to Nirmal Shah, Director of BirdLife Partner Nature Seychelles, the Species Guardian for the paradise-flycatcher.

Critically Endangered Species including Seychelles Magpie-robin, Seychelles White-eye and Seychelles Scops-owl have all been downlisted as a result of conservation action. The population of the paradise-flycatcher has been steadily increasing in recent years. In 1996 there were 69-83 pairs; this had risen to 104-139 pairs by the last comprehensive survey in 2000.

Has not spread naturally

Seychelles Paradise-flycatchers, probably "overspill" birds from the population on La Digue, are regularly seen on neighbouring islands, but have been unable to establish viable populations.

Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher requires mature stands of indigenous badamier and takamaka trees. However, its habitat requirements may be less strict than previously thought. As the population on La Digue has increased, a number of birds have established territories in open woodland with housing encroachment, and an increasing number of tree species are used for nesting.

Nature Seychelles began ecosystem restoration on Denis Island in 2002, with funding from two Global Environment Facility projects facilitated by the World Bank and with the collaboration of the island owners, and this work has continued under the current Darwin Initiative-funded flycatcher project. The island is free of alien predators.

Denis Island reintroduction

The reintroduction to Denis Island is part of a three-year project, funded by the UK Government's Darwin Initiative, and carried out by Nature Seychelles together with the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) and the collaboration of other organisations and the Seychelles Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

In November 2008, 23 Paradise-flycatchers were translocated from La Digue to Denis Island by Nature Seychelles and DICE, in collaboration with the La Digue Development Board and other partners. Nature Seychelles currently knows the whereabouts of 21 of these birds, with the recent reappearance of a male which had been replaced or ousted from his territory by another young male.

It is believed that the population on Denis could reach 40-50 birds. Other islands are being assessed for their suitability for future translocations.

"We predict that we will have a large enough population to downlist it to Endangered in the next two years or so", said Nirmal Shah. "This will be another huge triumph for Nature Seychelles with its international partners BirdLife, the RSPB and DICE."
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/paradise-flycatcher.html