Seychelles Magpie Robin News 6.

The importance of partnership in nature conservation is often cited and the last month in the SMR project on Denis has served to underline this.

Catherina was due to take some leave from the island through December and then at the last minute the proposed replacement fell through! So I contacted Gilles-David Derand the coordinator of the Seychelles Magpie Robin Recovery Team (SMART). He put out a circular e-mail for a volunteer and just in time Anne-Marie McDevitt from RSPB Northern Ireland came to our assistance. Anne-Marie came out to Seychelles at her expense and sacrificed her festive season to work with the magpie-robins – this is dedication!! She took on the dramatic change in climate, the island mosquitoes (which seemed to like her a lot unfortunately) and the rigorous routine that the SMRs demand and all with a cheerful and enthusiastic demeanour. All the information on the SMRs in this update is therefore the result of her work. So our sincere thanks go out to Anne-Marie who is now safely ensconced back in Northern Ireland and hopefully on her way to full recovery from her tropical endeavours.

Feed – Logistical problems are one of the major constraints faced when working on small isolated islands. Now consider that Denis is a small isolated island in a small isolated archipelago and the limitations are further compounded. In December logistical complexities resulted in an imminent shortage of the specialised bird feed we need for the SMR supplementary feeding. Again the SMART network came to the rescue, showing the value of this multi-partner network, in the form of Mr Kevin Joliffe Conservation Manager on Cousine Island. Cousine Island no longer provide supplementary feed for their SMR population and thankfully had a tub left over which filled the gap until our overseas shipment arrived.

So moving onto the birds (see map below for territory status as of 23rd December 2008):

• Catherina released the captive SMR juvenile “Charlie” she had raised shortly before her departure. Interestingly Charlie flew back across the runway to Catherina’s place where he had spent the earlier phases of his captivity and was soon taking food from Anne-Marie. Though apparently a little light, Charlie appears well and is foraging successfully as well.


• T1 (see map): the fledgling here is progressing well.


• T2: the pair here had a new nest at the end of December and appeared to be incubating.


• T3: the adults and juvenile are all to be seen feeding at the bird table and look well.


• T4: this territory continues to be of concern. Having previously abandoned a breeding attempt the pair built a new nest and laid an egg, this however appeared to be infertile as it did not hatch on schedule and subsequently disappeared - presumably predated.


• T5: the chick in this territory was ringed on the 7th December. It possibly fledged on the 13th December but despite frequent observations was not seen. By the 23rd December however the female was seen to be nest building again – a very strong indication that the fledgling has been lost.

Simply "Click" on the map to enlarge!


















Other changes are also considerable with affairs of the SMR heart proving fickle (“a la kreol”) once more!

• On October 7th I reported (in Bird Bulletin 7) that: i).the female (ringed Orange/Blue) had left her area adjacent to T3 and moved south to pair up with the male in area F (Blue/Red); ii). Whilst the young female (Yellow/Shocking Pink) that had been co-habiting with the pair in area C had moved on. I was hopeful that these moves would see the formation of 9 SMR pairs the optimum possible number for that island at that stage.
  Well things didn’t go so well in Area F with Orange/Blue not seen, and assumed floating once more, in that area since late November. This departure caused the male there (Blue/Red) to roam as well presumably looking for the errant female and he was seen in various locations around the island.


• The situation has continued to evolve – Orange/Blue has still to be seen since November and Blue/Red has now moved into area C forming a pair bond with the female Black/black and ousting her previous suitor (Sky Blue/New Green) who is now to be seen floating on the periphery of the area.


• Meanwhile Yellow/Shocking Pink has indeed re-surfaced in area A with the two males there and it is to be hoped that she will in due course pair with one of them.
  

So as you can see there is a lot going on and despite some setbacks the population on Denis is slowly increasing with currently 19 adults, 2 juveniles and a fledgling.

Keep checking back for news on this new population of the endangered Seychelles magpie robin.