Flycatcher – Breaking News

I have fantastic news to report! I received a call from Rachel Bristol, the Flycatcher Project Officer, yesterday confirming that we now have our first fledgling Flycatcher on Denis!!! This represents a major breakthrough – it is after all the first Paradise flycatcher to fledge from a translocated population and the first real sign that we are making progress with the species and its long term conservation[1].

It also comes as a significant relief as some dozen previous attempts had proven unsuccessful. Some failures were due to infertile eggs but several chicks have also been lost to unidentified causes though we strongly suspect our old enemy the Mynah bird!
The problem is without constant observation of the nest it is very difficult to ascertain a specific cause of a breeding failure. A few years ago when I was in Government employ we monitored Seychelles white-eye nests to assess causes of breeding failure using special cameras. Rachel and I have discussed this option and she will be seeking funding to try and finance a couple of cameras so that we can get a better understanding of the factors involved. In the meantime however the Mynah remains suspect number 1 and we mean to address the problem ASAP.

The chick that has fledged is from one of the nests filmed by SBC during their visit last month (See post of April 3rd). This chick hatched on Monday the 30th of March (See post of April 9th) and was expected to fledge on the 13th or 14th of April.

When I visited Denis last week however, I spent about 30 minutes in the territory and found no evidence of a chick and feared the worst. Rachel came up the next day and also could not find a chick plus she also observed two adults nest-building nearby giving a strong indication that the previous breeding attempt had failed. So I left the island on Saturday disappointed and believing that we had lost another chick. Thankfully however Rachel has subsequently observed the fledgling being tended to by its mother – the new nest being built actually belonging to another pair in an adjacent territory!

So great news… and hopefully just the first fledgling of many, though we are now approaching the end of the breeding season, we can look forward to next season with much more hope.

I don’t have any photos of the fledgling yet but hope that Rachel or Catherina may be able to get some… keep checking back for updates on our the first Denis island Paradise flycatcher!!!


[1] This transfer of the Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher was been a collaborative effort. Approval was granted by the La Digue Development Board. Donor funding was 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.