Chris R. Shepherd Masked Finfoot, one of the species currently requiring input on BirdLife’s Globally Threatened Bird forums Zoom In

Unsung heroes of bird conservation

18-12-2008

The science that underpins BirdLife International’s work depends on an army of dedicated people – professional conservationists and ordinary birdwatchers – who send in their observations from the field.

In May this year, BirdLife International launched the 2008 IUCN Red List for birds. It made grim reading with 1,226 species of bird now threatened, and eight species newly uplisted to Critically Endangered, the highest threat category. This was a four-yearly status assessment of every bird species on earth. It was no small task. In the run up to this launch the status of all 9,990 species of bird recognized by BirdLife was checked against the IUCN Red List criteria.

This is a proactive process and involves species compilers amassing a wealth of data for each species. The assessments cited a total of 12,500 references, and included information from 2,800 new published sources as well as from 3,000 unpublished reports. But there is another input to the Red List that often goes unnoticed and yet is vitally important.

Species assessments are not always based on complete information. Each year’s update sees category changes for a number of species resulting from improved knowledge and a better understanding of distribution, population sizes, trends and threats. “Red Listing is an ongoing process, and assessments need constantly updating. For a species such as Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone corvina we can fairly confidently cite a population estimate of 208–278 individuals. However, for most other species we have much larger margins of error”, says Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International’s Global Research and Indicators Coordinator. “The information and records submitted by birdwatchers, conservationists and scientists provide an up-to-date picture of the status of species and the threats to their populations, habitats and sites.”

“I think what most people don’t realise is how much BirdLife relies on people in the field letting us know about changes in species’ status”, says Jez Bird, BirdLife International’s Global Species Officer. “Without this army of interested and dedicated people sending in updates and commenting on potential Red List category changes, these assessments wouldn’t be as rigorous and up-to-date as they are.”

These unsung heroes are sometimes conservation professionals working on specific projects and species, but more often than not they are ordinary birdwatchers who are out in the field and taking note of what they see. They provide vital information via BirdLife’s Globally Threatened Bird forums—web-based discussion forums where proposed Red List category revisions are posted by BirdLife, and where contributors can comment and provide relevant information and opinions.

James C. Lowen; www.pbase.com/james_lowen Currently Near Threatened populations of Southern Giant-petrel appear to have declined and this species may need to be uplisted Zoom In

“The information and records submitted provide an up-to-date picture of the status of species and the threats to their populations, habitats and sites.” —Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International’s Global Research and Indicators Coordinator

During the 2007–2008 update process, several birdwatchers contributed to the discussion on Streaked Reed-warbler Acrocephalus sorghophilus. This species is poorly known only on passage and wintering sites in east Asia, while its breeding grounds remain unknown. So, a request for information was put out to help with the status assessment for this species. One contributor noted that at a well-known site “we failed to find any Streaked Reed-warblers” and that according to local birdwatchers there was a distinct “lack of records in China in recent years”. Given this and other information received the species remained classified as Vulnerable but a decline has been inferred and further clarification may well lead to uplisting. Comments made on the forums such as “counts made in the 1970s were much higher than those in the 1990s and recently these flocks are smaller” and “there is a very significant danger of exposure to toxic insecticides” led to Sooty Falcon Falco concolor being uplisted from Least Concern to Near Threatened. In fact, the forums often work so effectively that one contributor commented “I liked how the Sooty Falcon one seemed to get results pretty quickly.” The next step is to get more people to report sightings and to contribute information on changes in populations which then can be fed into future Red List assessments. “Birders who visit specific sites year on year are often the best placed to comment on changes in bird populations. They often have ‘target’ species to see at particular places and these are almost always ones with an unfavourable conservation status or restricted range”, Jez continues. “These are the species we need to constantly monitor.”

With this in mind BirdLife has produced the freely downloadable world checklist of birds which also carries every species’s conservation status. This provides an easy way to check how many rare birds you see on a trip. Links from the free download to the BirdLife datazone also mean that more detailed information for each species is easily available to check on specific sites or range data.

"This information could prove crucial for particular species and their status." —Jez Bird, BirdLife International’s Global Species Officer

The process continues and several species assessments are already underway for the 2009 update. Nightingale Reed-warbler Acrocephalus luscinius is currently classified as Endangered owing to its small and rapidly declining population, but recent developments suggest that it may merit uplisting to Critically Endangered. Input from the species’s discussion forum reveal that “there is evidence that the Brown Tree Snake has become established on Saipan”, a species implicated in several recent extinctions on the Pacific island of Guam. Also, with US military expansion the “human population will increase again on Saipan and this will lead to further habitat degradation”. Jez comments on this particular case: “Following the IUCN Red List guidelines we adopt a precautionary approach and this may prove to be a strong enough argument for uplisting this species. Even if it remains classified as Endangered, this information is now documented and will be used in any future evaluations.”

Red Kite Milvus milvus is another species where information may result in uplisting. Despite well-publicised increases in the United Kingdom, this species appears to have suffered significant declines across much of its European range and more information is required to get the full picture on any changes. “The challenge is to get birdwatchers to constantly question whether they think a particular species is correctly classified”, Jez adds. “A species may be classified as Endangered but there may be new sites at which it occurs that we are not yet aware of. This information could prove crucial for particular species and their status.”

“With modern technologies and birdwatchers getting to more remote places more often, we are now at a stage where detailed count and distribution information is available for many threatened species. These people really are the unsung heroes of bird conservation and they carry out an incredibly important function, being the eyes and ears of the BirdLife Partnership”, finishes Stuart Butchart.

So, just how many threatened species have you seen and do you know something that BirdLife doesn’t? If so, a crucial role in the Red List process awaits.

by Martin Fowlie

To contribute go to www.birdlifeforums.org

To download the BirdLife world checklist click here (Zip 1.5MB)