In mid-August 2008, the first two bird translocations were made onto the DSF Ecological Preserve, with the help of some 20 volunteers, the Stewart Island Rakiura Community and Environment Trust and the Department of Conservation (DOC). A beautiful Maori prayer was offered as part of the ceremony of the release of birds by Mr. Michael Skerrett. Present were members of local iwi, the local community, Adrian Gutsell (our contractor) and DOC representatives, including Southern Regional Operations Manager John Cumberpatch, Southland Conservator Barry Hanson and DOC Southern Islands Area Manager Andy Roberts, in addition to Kari Beaven of SIRCET and Brent Beaven, Biodiversity Manager for Rakiura National Park. The two species successfully transferred from Ulva Island were South Island Rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris chloris, Titi pounamu) — New Zealand’s smallest bird, and Brown Creeper (Mohua novaeseelandiae, Pipipi): 34 Brown Creepers of both sexes, and 4 male Rifleman. This was the first time New Zealand Brown Creepers had ever been translocated, and the third time for Rifleman. At least half of the transferred birds have been seen in follow-up monitoring, distinguished by color band combinations and metal number codes on each band. Flocks of Brown Creepers have been observed, and at least one flock was displaying pre-nesting behavior as of September 2008. While neither species is considered Threatened, their numbers have been in decline. Like many bird species below the normal radar screen (i.e., considered “Fairly Common”), these two species may need special help in the future, and the pro-active approach to increasing their numbers, particularly on mainland Stewart Island, can only go towards helping sustain their healthy gene pools in the future.

As of early 2010, there were at least a total of 17 Riflemen as well as 34 Brown Creepers on the Preserve including Brown Creeper fledglings have been seen. Among the Riflemen, breeding behavior has been witnessed.

As of September 2008, there were thirty fenced preserves across New Zealand, like the DSF Ecological Preserve, encompassing a total land area of 7740 hectares, and spanning 114 kilometers of fence. In addition, the Department of Conservation’s Mainland Island Program comprises an additional 11,900 hectares of protected land. Together, converging methodologies being applied by both government, private and non-profit sectors reveal the passionate and shared aim of staving off further declines among all native species in the country. Data from two fenced government preserves in Central Otago, installed for purposes of protecting Giant and Otago Skinks have shown an increase in species population sizes by 66% and 34% respectively, in just two years after the fence installation. (Information provided by Roger MacGibbon of the Xcluder Fence Company, September, 2008). This kind of data has been consistent with the fenced preserves throughout the country. DSF specifically has seen remarkable regeneration of native flora and fauna since its fence installation in 2004/2005.

Avifauna Translocation Update March 2011

Latest Rifleman Transfer a Great Success!

In February, 2011, over a week’s time, 21 riflemen/titipounamou were caught on Ulva Island and trans-located to the DSF preserve on Stewart Island/Rakiura where they all bounced happily out of their boxes into the property. These birds included a relatively even mix of adult males, females and juveniles. Juveniles made up half of the total number, which is an excellent result as they have the longest time ahead of them to contribute their genes to the establishing population. They look to also be an equal mix of males and females, though it can be hard to tell in the early juvenile phase.

A survey for brown creeper/pipipi and riflemen/titipounamu identified several breeding groups of unbanded riflemen, both with banded birds and in completely unbanded family groups. Brown creeper groups were also confirmed still breeding inside the Preserve. Kari Beaven led the effort, aided by volunteers Morag and Simon Fordham and Fraser Crichton. We are deeply grateful to Kari, Morag, Simon and Fraser for their brave yet delicate efforts and a successful translocation. Thank you all!

For more information:

> Bringing Back the Birds Conference
Held on Stewart Island by SERN (Southland Ecological Restoration Network)

Francisco Fonseca is Professor of Biology at the University of Lisbon and the Co-founder of Grupo Lobo, the conservation organization focused on saving the Portuguese wolf (Canus lupus signatus) from extinction. He stands in a forest at the sanctuary he and colleagues have created north of Lisbon, and waits for the 11-year old, sixty-pound Alpha male named Prado to approach. Prado, an Iberian wolf, loves men with the exception of male veterarians. He has a distinct lack of appreciation for all vets. Grupo Lobo’s incredible Iberian Wolf Sanctuary is profiled in DSF’s book Sanctuary.

The Iberian Wolf Sanctuary sits on over 40 acres of native trees, including cork, and adjoins the 2400- acre Tapada de Mafra, the historic summer palace of the Kings of Portugal and today a magnificent preserve with native deer, wild boar and two additional wolves.

As of 2003, there were 2200 Iberian wolves in Spain, but a mere 300 in Portugal, with only 30 of them ranging south of the River Douro in the far North of the country. The other 270 are scattered north of the river in and between three national parks. Their status is dire. The increasing number of fires that periodically sweep the country (often the result of arsen) are having a disastrous effect on wolf habitat, that and lingering superstitions by Portuguese farmers that view wolves as creatures to be exterminated.

Professor Fonseca was instrumental in obtaining legislation from Parliament that safeguarded the wolf in Portugal as of 1988. The legislation exists only on paper, but thanks to the Grupo Lobo Sanctuary and the continuing educational outreach that Francisco and his colleagues are striving to accomplish, there is hope that the gorgeous Iberian wolf will survive. “I just love them,” says Francisco.

For more information:

> Grupo Lobo website
(English translation: The Wolf Group)

As we describe in the Sanctuary book, orangutan populations across Indonesian Borneo are in trouble. If not for the work of Dr. Biruté Galdikas, and the creation of Tanjung Puting National Park, established under Dr. Galdikas’ co-management authority in 1988, it is doubtful the remaining 6,000 orangutans under her general care within the nearly 960,000 acres of the park would be protected. As it is, 40% of Tanjung Puting is now degraded, leaving 576,000 acres, or more than two thousand square kilometers, in pretty good shape. Other than this genetically viable population at Tanjung Puting, orangutan populations elsewhere in Borneo are fragmented and desperate.

Human over-population, says Dr. Galdikas, is the primary problem. Despite Indonesia’s highly successful family planning program, the BKKBN, the country now has over 240 million people and is growing. That is a far cry from the 6 million inhabitants of Alfred Wallace’s time in the mid-19th century.

Dr. Galdikas accepted a DSF Research Fellowship in 2007 and it was DSF’s great privilege to be able to document some of her work, and that of her colleagues, in the tropical peat swamps of Kalimantan. Dr. Galdikas’ field research in Borneo constitutes the longest continuous field study with primates ever undertaken. Hundreds of orangutan orphans, their parents often killed by hunters, infants left to starve, now look to Dr. Galdikas and her remarkable care-giving staff, as family. Moreover, Dr. Galdikas’ blueprint for conservation in southern Kalimantan promises to greatly extend the contiguous, primary forest corridor that could prove critical to the future of these fellow primates most like humans.

In addition to the work with Dr. Galdikas, DSF has also endeavored to illuminate some of the problems and success stories inherent to family planning in Indonesia, recognizing that demographic pressure is the fuel destroying so much remaining habitat and biodiversity.

In the film and book, “No Vacancy,” luminaries like Professor Dr. Yaumil Chairiah Agus Akhir (President, National Family Planning Coordinating Board), Professor Dr. Haryono Suyono (of Indonesia’s Peace and prosperity Foundation), Dr. Biran Affandi (Founder, Klinik Raden Saleh and Chair of the Study Group on Human Reproduction at the University of Indonesia) and Dr. Firman Lubis (Executive Director of the Yayasan Kusuma Buana), all provided valuable time to DSF and film partner, Population Communication of Pasadena.

The resulting portrait yields a vision of population stabilization; of replacement sized families (a total fertility rate closer to 2.2, down from 5.7 when family planning first started in this largest of Islamic nations). Nearly forty million people have not been born in Indonesia because of the methodical family planning initiatives here. But much work remains to help Indonesians lessen their considerable impact on biodiversity.