Rare birds reared at home after being found by construction worker

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Three Formosan blue magpie chicks discovered on a mountain path were reared at home by a construction worker for five days until they were identified as being a rare Taiwanese species, police in Keelung City said Monday. 

A construction worker, surnamed Yu, found the three chicks in a bird's nest that had fallen on a path near a construction site on a mountain in New Taipei where he worked, police said. 

He reared the birds at home for five days until his friend recognized the birds' characteristic long-tails and suggested they might be Formosan blue magpies, also known as "long-tailed maidens of the mountains," which is Taiwan's national bird, according to the police. Yu took the birds to the police and they were subsequently checked by experts, who identified the birds as being Formosan blue magpies, a rare and protected species. 

The chicks will be reared by experts at Keelung's Agriculture and Forestry Department until they are able to fend for themselves in the wild. Police said Yu had not violated the country's Wildlife Conservation Act as he had not hunted, sold or publicly displayed the birds. Hunting, selling, or buying protected animals in Taiwan can result in a maximum prison sentence of five years and/or a maximum fine of NT$1.5 million (US$50,206), according to the act. (By Liu Li-jung and Ann Chen)

http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1950013

Critically Endangered Grenada dove gets a lifeline

100 acres protected for Grenada dove - Courtesy of Birdlife
April 2012. In August 2011, the Government of Grenada's Cabinet approved the protection of the last piece of government-owned Grenada Dove habitat through the addition of approximately 100 acres (c.40 ha) of the Beausejour Estate to the adjacent Perseverance Protected Area and Dove Sanctuary. This extremely positive move towards the conservation of Grenada's national bird - the Critically Endangered Grenada Dove - now requires a survey and then legal designation by the Grenadian Parliament.

Just 132 birds known alive
Grenada Dove is endemic to the island and is clinging onto survival with a population estimated at just 132 individuals. The bird's extremely small population has declined due to habitat loss and fragmentation caused by habitat clearance for residential housing, roads and other developments, hurricanes, fire, grazing pressure and predation by invasive species.

According to Bonnie Rusk of the Grenada Dove Conservation Program and the BirdLife Species Guardian, "the Grenada Dove population is clearly tied to the availability of suitable habitat, which continues to decline. Without adequate habitat protection now, the population will quickly decline towards extinction".

Grenada, at the 8th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the CBD (COP 8), pledged to effectively conserve at least 25% of its marine and terrestrial ecosystems by 2020 (the Grenada Declaration). In 2010, the Government of Grenada's Cabinet approved the new System Plan for Parks and Protected Areas to help meet this obligation. Grenada's six IBAs, four of which are identified as critical habitat of the Grenada Dove, are included in this System Plan.

With the Government's protection of the crown lands at Beausejour Estate - which supports 40% of the west coast Grenada Dove population - all remaining dove habitat is on private lands. The newly-protected area at Beausejour includes land suitable for reforestation and habitat creation, and provides a protected corridor to the adjacent Perseverance Protected Area and Dove Sanctuary.

Read on: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/grenada-dove.html