Denis Island breathes new life into magpie robin conservation |15 September 2008

 
The first magpie robin egg and subsequent chick on Denis Island (Photos by Catherina Onezia)

Twenty birds were transferred to Denis on June 25 in a joint project between Nature Seychelles and the island management, a move that was the culmination of many years’ work by many different agencies.

Nature Seychelles took over management of the species action plan from BirdLife International in 1998 and chairs the Seychelles Magpie Robin Recovery Team (Smart), a local stakeholder team that now agrees management decisions.

For Denis Island this marks a major landmark in an environmental programme that started in 1998 with the first assessment of alien predators. Cats were eradicated in 2000 and rats in 2002, while woodland habitat work was undertaken from 1999-2002.

The 20 birds introduced (16 from Fregate and four from Cousin) were kept and cared for in aviaries for about three weeks to stabilise their condition after the stress of the transfer.

They were then released over a period of six days, July 13-18, to avoid fighting between newly released birds that had yet to establish their territories.

The Green Islands Foundation (GIF), a local NGO, is managing the population on behalf of Denis Island. Catherina Onezia, GIF’s environmental officer, is monitoring the birds and providing them with specialised supplementary food three times a day.

Catherina found the first egg on August 4 and it hatched on the 23rd. The island now has two magpie robin chicks and two further nests being built, so this is a very encouraging beginning for this new population and the species a whole.

While recognising that the chicks face many dangers before becoming independent adults, we are now keenly looking forward to the first Denis Island magpie robin fledgling in the coming weeks.

For more detailed information and regular updates on this project and other environmental projects on Denis, go to the Denis Island, Seychelles – environmental update blog at: http://denisisland.blogspot.com

The GIF is a Seychelles-registered NGO dedicated to mainstreaming sustainable development.

Contributed by the Green Islands Foundation