South East Asian songbirds are currently facing a major extinction crisis evidently driven by the huge scale of trade in wild birds apparent in the region.
White rumped shama spiritual meaning drivers#
We caught up with one of our Conservation Scholars and PhD student from Manchester Metropolitan University, Harry Marshall, to learn more about his research on the songbird crisis and the drivers affecting it. © Florian Richter Understanding The Songbird Crisis We hope that sometime in the future, we will be able return the Javan Green Magpie to their mountain forest home. The support given by EAZA institutions to the Silent Forest campaign helps us conserve these wonderful birds and in doing so, learn more about their biology. These birds naturally live in dark dense evergreen forests, where sunlight rarely penetrates to the forest floor. We now also believe that the pigment is so unstable, that the birds will also fade in bright sunlight. What we still do not know for sure is if these components also fulfill other functions for the bird, for example it is thought lutein may play an important role in the immune system. Without this, the birds’ vibrant plumage will fade. We now know that the vivid green colours of the Green Magpies of the genus Cissa and some other green insect-eating birds are maintained with the addition of the pigment lutein. The combination of blue and yellow perfectly produces Cissa green. To help keep the birds green, a powdered and dried flower did the trick, a supplement made from the marigold flower was added to the diet of the insects, which form part of the Magpies diet (the insects were also fed lots of leafy greens). Without lutein in their diet, Green Magpies fade to pale turquoise-blue – the structural colour of their feathers.īut Green Magpies don’t eat plants, they feed mostly on large insects, insects which we must assume eat lots of lutein-rich plants. Research indicated that the Green Magpies’ bright green plumage is achieved with the help of a yellow carotenoid pigment called lutein, which is found in many leafy green plants. A blue Javan green magpie rescued from bird market © Jonathan Beilby Several of the birds rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, which formed the foundation for the breeding programme were a dull blue colour, indicating they had been kept in cages on a poor diet for some time, while other birds were bright green, suggesting they had only recently been caught from the wild. It was Andrew who picked up on the notion that we might be on to something as he tried it out on a much larger scale with the team in Cikananga, Java who had just started the conservation-breeding programme for the critically endangered Javan Green Magpie. The transformation from the blue hue we had become accustomed to, back to a brilliant green was quite a surprise. However, the Common Green Magpies in the collection were also given part of the same food for practical reasons. In Weltvogelpark in Walsrode in 2009 a plant-based supplement was given to other birds for other reasons by Simon. It has long been known that the plumage of Green Magpies of the genus Cissa fade in colour when they are kept in captivity and it has always been unclear if it causes the birds any ill effects.Īlthough often pondering about this problem, it was, as is often the case, a coincidence which provided at least part of the answer. Helping the Songbirds in Stuttgart’s WilhelmaĪuthors: Simon Bruslund (Heidelberg Zoo, Germany) and Andrew Owen (Chester Zoo, UK)ĭid you know that Green Magpies fade from vivid green to a turquoise blue when they don’t receive the correct diet? After finishing the race the contributions still came in and in total we raised €1182,77 for the Nias Hill Myna.”Ĭongratulations for the incredible achievement and many thanks for the contributions! Especially the last stretch to the finish with percentages up to 20% was extremely painful but we both succeeded and finished in a very acceptable time of 10 hours and a handful of minutes, both earning the silver medal.
More than 9 hours later and 200 kilometres further we were both pretty exhausted and still had to do the final climb to Planche des Belles Filles, a well-known finish place from the Tour de France. “ June 9 th, 7:30 am, we began our Trois Ballons adventure with great spirits and knowing we already collected more than €600,- for the Nias Hill Myna project. Here are some updates from Joost Lammers (Birdpark Avifauna, The Netherlands). The race is now over and was successfully finished by our two athletic birds enthusiasts! Remember last month’s post Racing for Mynas?
0 kommentar(er)
