This will be the focus of intensive fieldwork by Benny and the Burung team assisted by Anna in the next months.Ĭockatoo pair visiting nest tree ( Photo: Peter Widman) We quickly realised how very little is known about their breeding productivity, and the factors that might affect it. Methods and results of previous surveys were analysed in order to identify possible issues and a new survey was devised (to be carried out from next April) in order obtain a reliable estimate of the current population size. Two main priorities were discussed - the need for a reliable population estimate, and the necessity of finding, surveying and protecting a sizable number of nests. One of my greatest conservation heroes - Peter Widman who, along with Indira Lacerna-Widman, run the Katala foundation in the Philippines (Photo: Stu) The week-long workshop benefited hugely from the contribution of Thomas Arndt, ZGAP delegate and parrot expert, as well as of Peter and Indira Widman of the Katala Foundation who run the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Programme, surely one of the most successful parrot conservation programmes in the world. Participants ranged from the Burung Indonesia Sumba Team, who have been implementing an effective awareness programme for the last 10 years, to rangers from both of Sumba’s National Parks, to Anna Reuleaux, a biologist who has just started a one-year ZGAP-funded field research on the cockatoo’s breeding biology. This prompted both the Fonds für bedrohte Papageien -funded Sumba Cockatoo workshop and the new population study that Simon Valle and I plan for next year.Ģ015 Sumba Cockatoo workshop participants, with organiser Thomas Arndt at the back, next to Simonīurung Indonesia (the BirdLife Partner) and Thomas Arndt organised for many people who have, are, or will be working on the Sumba Cockatoos, to meet near Waikabubak and confer about the conservation of the species. Low breeding output, perhaps by an ageing population, is one factor suspected by some. There are anecdotal reports from a ZGAP-funded project suggesting that the cockatoo is declining again, in spite of years of awareness work, which is believed to have just about stopped illegal trade in the cockatoo. Thirteen years on, and again there is concern for the cockatoo. There was a statistically significant increase in abundance overall – something that biologists are rarely able to show in the world’s threatened species. Cockatoo density estimates had increased considerably at two sites, and risen modestly at a further site (Cahill et al. The results were, we believe, reasonably encouraging. in 1989/92 were revisited and parrots counted using the same methods, often on the same transects used previously. Four of the forest sites originally visited by Jones et al. 2005), but especially, to see if 10 years of a trade ‘ban’ had had a positive effect on the cockatoo population. Primary goals of this work were to assess breeding output in the cockatoo, and to test the efficacy of nest box provision in the species (Walker et al. In 2002, Alexis Cahill, Jon Walker and Stu received grants from Loro Parque Fundacion and Wildlife Conservation Society to do some more work on Sumba. Of course, small numbers continued to appear in trade illegally during the 1990s but the reality was that the volume of trade was greatly reduced.Ī man with a fishing rod stood next to another with a catapult in the forest can mean one thing - Cockatoo nest monitoring activities by staff from Burung Indonesian and National It appears that our efforts were timely and in 1992, there was a moratorium in trade in Citron-crests on Sumba.
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