Denis Island’s Environment Programmes Enable World Conservation First.

The Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone corvina) is a critically endangered species (IUCN Red List criteria) with the only breeding population restricted to the island of La Digue. La Digue is the 3rd most populated island in the Seychelles archipelago and the related development pressures mean that the long term future of the species habitat there is not secure. Also a species that is restricted to one very small island is inherently vulnerable to stochastic events – such as storms, disease, forest fires etc… and as such it is always important to establish additional populations in order to secure the future of the species.

On the mornings of 25th and 26th of November a total of 23 flycatchers were transferred from La Digue to Denis Island in two helicopter flights. The birds were then transported in their transfer boxes, by buggy, to the largest area of suitable broadleaved woodland habitat on the island. The arrival of a large number of migratory birds of prey (see post of 29th November 2008) in the preceding days was a cause for concern and so it was decided to release the birds at a point 150 metres or so further south from the runway into the forest to lessen the immediate risk of predation.

Each bird was released in turn from its transfer box. Its condition checked by a veterinary specialist and provided with a special re-hydration fluid before release. It was very encouraging to see the good condition exhibited by all the birds on their release.

The birds soon dispersed and by 13:00 hrs on the first day of releases one bird had been seen to fly north across the runway. Over the next two days males were heard to be singing at three separate locations - another very encouraging sign that indicated that birds had identified suitable habitat and were already trying to attract a mate and establish a territory.

This ground breaking introduction, which if successful will represent a turning point for the species, comes as the result of years of work by various partners (see further details at the end of this post):
Denis Island Pty Ltd has of course enabled the transfer by undertaking the rehabilitation of the island’s ecosystem over the last 10 years including the eradication of rats and cats and allowing the conversion of large areas of woodland to suitable habitat types.
Rachel Bristol, the Project Officer, has worked tirelessly over the last two years. On La Digue she has been monitoring the Flycatcher population and working with the local community to advance awareness and to build support for the transfer. On Denis she has been overseeing an 18 month vegetation project to convert approximately 20 hectares of coconut plantation into broadleaved woodland and thereby provide additional habitat in the future for the introduce population to expand into.
The La Digue Development Board (LDDB) – following detailed negotiations and a site visit to Denis to see the available habitat and receive a detailed presentation on the proposed transfer - approved the transfer and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Denis Island overseeing its terms and conditions.

Following the releases work rapidly switched to the monitoring of birds. Over the next year the birds will be monitored intensively by Anselm Barra and I hope to be able to provide updates on the birds’ progress in the same way that I post periodically on the Seychelles magpie robin population.

This first transfer of the Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher has been a collaborative effort. Donor funding has been received from the UK Darwin Initiative. The overall project leader is Dr Jim Groombridge. Project partners include: Nature Seychelles, the Seychelles Department of Environment, the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Environment, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Wildlife Vets International, RARE UK and the University of Kent.