The Heroic Struggle to Save Our Island Birds
SECTION 4: Island Paradise
Nick holds a fledgling Gould’s Petrel with Cabbage Tree Island in the background (credit: Mike Jarman/Nicholas Carlile).
This story of the Gould’s petrel begins in the Read More
Kakapo (credit: Don Merton).
“. . . the loss of the kakapo would be of incomparable proportions, as the species has no parallel, no functional or taxonomic equivalent, anywhere else in the world.”
—J. M. Read More
Like other seafaring petrels, Zino’s are slender, medium-sized birds, with a body just over one foot long and a three-foot wingspan. They spend months at sea and can fly for long periods, picking up food from the ocean surface with their short sturdy beaks as they glide over it.
Each breeding season they return to Read More
Our story begins in Madeira, in1903, when a few dead birds were found and taken to Father Ernesto Schitz, a priest with a keen interest in natural history. He identified them as the Fea’s Petrel. Thirty years later those “Fea” skins were examined by a petrel expert Gregory Matthews who realized, to his excitement, Read More
Later that year Alec had men searching the mountains for nesting burrows. He went on a short trip which he had planned with another bird enthusiast, a man of the cloth whom I shall refer to simply as N. In the event, N missed the boat. After some time he went to Alec’s office Read More
It was really exciting when a team of FCP climbers discovered another small breeding colony. “The number of breeding pairs almost doubled over night!” said Frank. FCP then obtained funding to buy the breeding area from the private owners. And the government set aside a large area in the central mountains and laurel forests Read More
Lord Howe’s Island, situated east of Australia, has seen more than one conservation success story, among them the Lord Howe’s Island woodhen. Nicholas Carlile told me the tale of saving this bird from extinction. In 1971, there were only about twenty of the bantam-sized, olive-brown flightless woodhens left in the world. They are related Read More
