Mauritius Kestrel (Falco punctatus)

The Mauritius Kestrel is a bird of prey endemic to the forests of Mauritius and was once regarded the rarest bird in the world. In the 1970's there were only 4 known individuals left with one breeding female found only in the Lower Black River Gorges. Now due to intensive conservation and management efforts the population has risen between 800-1000 birds and downgraded from Critically endangered to Endangered in 1994 and then to Vulnerable in 2000 by the IUCN.

They used to range from sea level to the highest upland forests but due to deforestation and degradation for lumber and agricultural purposes in 1900 they were restricted to 3 mountain ranges; Moka, Bambous and Lower Black River Gorges. Later on in the 1950-60's large amounts of DDT was used to control malaria and predation by invasive species (cats, rats, mongooses) reduced the kestrel population even further to only 20-25 and then only 4 in 1974.

Female watching us as we do a nest access

Male with recently caught gecko

Mauritius Kestrel Chick

Mauritius Kestrel Chick

Conservation biologists
(Saoirse Morgan and Paul Tinsley-Marshall) ringing a chick

Conservation biologist (Saoirse Morgan) ringing a chick

Conservation Biologist (Paul Tinsley-Marshall) taking a blood sample for genetic analysis

Conservation Biologist (Edward Winfield) performing morphometrics

Mascarene Paradise Flycatcher

The Mascarene Paradise Flycatcher
(Terpsiphone bourbonnensis)

With their metallic coloured plumage and charasmatic, curious behaviour they are definitely one of my favourite avian species of Mauritius. Currently I am working at combo, one of the newest field stations occupied by Mauritian Wildlife Foundation Staff in the Black Gorges National Park. Here, there is a great chance to see a wide variety and abundance of species including; Pink Pigeons, Olive White-eyes, Mauritius Bulbuls and Paradise Flycatchers.

This species of Flycatcher is endemic to the islands of Mauritius and Réunion but less common in Mauritius. Their natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and as there name suggests is particularly partical to insects.

Skinks

The following pictures are of Dany Vercatasamy performing morphometrics on Telfair's skink (Leiolopisma telfairii).

One way to tell males from females is to look for a pair of hemipenes which looks like two bulges behind the cloaca at the base of the tail.

They need to be looked over to see if there are any scars or features that could be used to identify the skink from others and as you may see a digit is missing from the back right hand foot.

Each is microchipped with a unique number

Then they are numbered so that they not catched frequently but can still be tracked for movement between areas. The ink is toxic so it is made sure that numbers are not written on wounds.

Here Dany is measuring the distance between tail brakes which can be seen from the discolouration

Famous Whale

Thought that i would mention that this picture has become quite popular with the alamy sales but also in Iceland where it is used for marketing Reykjavik whale watching and it was also used by Icelandic airlines so keep an eye out on the London underground for this picture.

Ile Aux Aigrettes Cont...

So, it’s been two weeks when I last put some pictures up on my blog and that's because I worked at the weekend which gave me the opportunity to spend more time taking pictures.

Current events for the Olive White-eyes.... well.... Ile Aux Aigrette has 21 individuals each with their own name and colour combination rings. This should be the time for building nests and laying eggs but it is still being quite unproductive we think due to the lack of rain and thus dryness of the Island. Our daily tasks at the moment include morning feeds of grapes, insect mix and nectar which are distributed to 9 feeding stations scattered across the island in different territories. Then we do searches on as many as the birds as possible, observing and reporting on the behaviour we see. The Olive White-eye is listed as a Critically Endangered bird by the IUCN with only an estimated 100-150 pairs left in the wild. It was only in 2005 that the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation started a project to help save them from extinction so there is still a lot we don’t know about them hence the reason for intensive field observations. We then feed them again in the afternoon (observation…they eat a lot) and afternoons are left for nest watching but because there are no nests at the moment they are many spent doing data entry, UGG!

Fouka the OWE above is a male and was hand reared so very tame and thus one of the favourites amongst the field staff. We are hoping that he has partnered with a female called Fizzgig but it is still early days i think.

Elvis is a female with a fella called SquarePants. The picture above is Elvis feeding on the nectar of an endemic and rare Lomatophyllum plant.

As i was photographing the Olives on the Lomatophyllum an Ornate Day Gecko also came along so i thought i would throw him in too.

Day or two old Ornate Gecko on a Scaevola taccada plant.

Giant Guenther's day gecko

Indian House Shrew

On of the main problems on the island for the reptile populations is the Indian house Shrew (Suncus murinus) which are both deaf and blind and so always running across your path. They eat the eggs thus the Islands reptile populations arn't doing as well as they could do and this also means that no other reptiles like the Keel-scaled boa can be introduced yet.

Well thats it for now. Have a great week.

Ile Aux Aigrettes

Fouka the crazy Olive White-eye (Zosterops chloronothos)

Elvis and Square Pants Olive White-eyes (Zosterops chloronothos)

The Madagascar Fody (Foudia madagascariensis)

Mauritius ornate day gecko (Phelsuma ornata)

Giant Aldabran Tortoises (Geochelone gigantea)

The Telfair's skink (Leiolopisma telfairii)

Ile Aux Aigrettes

Photographs of the week

Olive White Eye adult and 3 day old chick

Evening lights from the island

Giant Aldabran Tortoises Geochelone gigantea


Toad

Ornate Day Gecko


agamid

The Telfair's skink (Leiolopisma telfairii)

Critically Endangered Mauritius Fody (Foudia rubra)