SEYCHELLES: Conservationists in Seychelles look for ways to save endangered bird the Paradise Flycatcher

Record ID: 455130

  • Title: SEYCHELLES: Conservationists in Seychelles look for ways to save endangered bird the Paradise Flycatcher
  • Date: 20th February 2008
  • Summary: (AD1) COUSIN ISLAND, SEYCHELLES (FILE) (REUTERS) VIEW OF MOUNTAINSIDE ON COUSIN ISLAND TREES
  • Embargoed: 6th March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Seychelles
  • Country: Seychelles
  • Topics: Nature / Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVAC8BQYTWVO9CMJMLRM23ZAY592
  • Story Text: The island of La Digue in the Seychelles is home to one of the world's rarest birds, a type of Paradise Flycatcher.
    In what is a rare sight for bird enthusiasts, a female Paradise Flycatcher nests on a precious egg. There are only 250 of these birds left in the world and they all live on La Digue, an island in the Seychelles archipelago.
    Local conservationist Terrence Vel grew up with the Paradise Flycatcher in his backyard and residents here, or digois as they are known, see the bird as an emblem of the island's heritage.
    "You go to some places like a guest-house, they will give the name flycatcher, and you'll see a picture of the flycatcher. So it is everywhere not only as a bird flying but the picture of the birds, and the sign, and they use it as a sign, as a product to market businesses and all," says Vel.
    Flycatcher marketing has helped to build Seychelles' booming tourism industry which accounts for over 70 percent of the islands' foreign exchange.
    But the rapid development is also partly to blame for the dwindling numbers of the bird.
    Biologists are studying how the new houses and buildings springing up around La Digue are affecting the endangered species.
    "The biggest problem I think for flycatchers is habitat destruction because they live on the western plateau of La Digue, which is also where the main human population on La Digue lives. So the problem is just really a conflict of interest between people needing not forest, I mean people needing to clear areas to put houses and flycatchers needing woodland so the area of woodland on la Digue and forest especially on the plateau has decreased hugely," says Rachel Bristol, a conservationist with the Darwin Initiative on Flycatchers.
    Rachel moved to la Digue three years ago with her family and is part of a team of ornithologists or bird scientists, who are credited with bringing several species back from the brink of extinction. Many of these victories happened on nearby Cousin Island, which has become a bird watching hotspot.
    The Magpie Robin is still one of the 50 rarest birds in the world. But with intense conservation efforts, the population has grown from 25 to over 150 individuals since the 1970s.
    Back on La Digue, there is a plan to find a new home for some of the flycatchers. But convincing locals to share their unique birds with the other islands in the archipelago isn't easy.
    "What we want to do is what we've done with many other threatened endemic birds in Seychelles. Take a few from your source population, like take a few flycatchers from La Digue and put them on another suitable island, so we work on the other islands to restore them, we get rid of the bad guys, we get rid of rats and cats, we eradicate them totally so they're aren't any, and we re-plant the native habitat so we re-plant native forest and then we move the birds," said Bristol.
    Many are reluctant to see their precious bird moved from the island.
    "If we move this kind of bird in La Dique, some clients, like 50 percent of the clients won't come, because 50 percent come for the bird, you see," said Jeval Radigon, an entrepreneur.
    The unique scenery and wildlife of the Seychelles is what keeps tourists coming back to these Indian Ocean islands. With a new generation of paradise flycatcher being secured, the tourism industry here also looks well protected.
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