New bird species discovered in Babuyan Island
Updated 03:33am (Mla time) Aug 18, 2004
INQ7.net
A NEW bird species, which is believed to be found nowhere else in the world, has been discovered on the remote island of Calayan, 70 km north of Luzon.
According to a statement released to INQ7.net by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, the bird will be named the “Calayan Rail” (Gallirallus calayanensis), after the island on which it was found. Calayan is the largest island in the Babuyan island group that lies between Batanes and Luzon.
The Wild Bird Club said the discovery was made by a team of nine volunteer wildlife researchers from the Philippines and the United Kingdom, who conducted a survey of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians on the islands from April to June. The team was led by conservationists Carl Oliveros and Genevieve Broad.
Carmela Española, a Filipino wildlife biologist, found a group of these dark brown birds with their distinctive orange-red bills and legs foraging in the undergrowth near a stream while she was walking through rainforest on May 11 this year.
Her notes and photographs, and recordings of the birds’ loud, harsh, rasping calls, later helped determine that the species was not only new to her, but also new to science. Locals, however, know the bird by the name “piding.” Some residents said the birds were sometimes even caught for food.
“We expected many new distribution records for the Babuyan Islands, but a new bird species was completely unexpected,” said Española.
Oliveros said, “We plan to undertake further research to determine the habitat requirements, abundance and distribution of the rail, while working closely with local residents to minimize threats, and to encourage long-term initiatives to protect the forest.”
“Although apparently not under immediate threat, the limited distribution of the new species makes it vulnerable to habitat loss and predators introduced to the island such as cats and rats,” Oliveros added.
Carlo Custodio, chief ecosystems management specialist of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, said “the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has taken the initial steps in the process of declaring the islands of the Babuyan group a protected area. The discovery of this rail inspires us to continue the work that has been started.”
Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a professor in zoology and wildlife biology at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, and member of the survey team, said the new species may be classified as “vulnerable” under the World Conservation Union Red List criteria for species of conservation concern.
This means the Calayan Rail faces a “high risk of extinction in the wild.”
Rails are ground-feeding and ground-nesting birds with long legs and straight pointed bills. Rails and other similar species have among the highest record of recently extinct or endangered birds.
Eighteen of the 20 living species of flightless rail are considered threatened, and the majority of rail species that have become extinct since 1600 were flightless said a 1998 handbook on rails.
During their stay on the island, the nine-member expedition team saw adult and juvenile birds on several occasions. Within a two-kilometer range of their rainforest camp, they recorded an estimated 100-200 pairs.
The Calayan Rail also appears to be nearly or completely flightless. Expedition members said the birds were seen skulking in undergrowth or out on open trails, sometimes alone, sometimes in family groups.
Although its orange-red bill and legs look similar to the Okinawa rail from the Ryukyu Islands in Japan, the former does not have a white stripe below the eye and black and white barring in its underparts, said Gonzalez, who is one of the authors of the scientific paper describing the new species.
Apart from Española and Gonzalez, other expedition members included Oriental bird specialist Desmond Allen (British), Harvey John Garcia, Marisol Pedregosa, Mark Anthony Reyes and Amado Bajarias Jr. Most of the team are members of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines.
The nine-week survey was funded through the Rufford Small Grant Committee and the Oriental Bird Club. Additional equipment was provided by IdeaWild USA.
The team surveyed the terrestrial fauna in Camiguin, Babuyan Claro, Calayan and Dalupiri islands, which form part of the Babuyan Island group.
Calayan island is still largely covered by rainforest and has 8,500 residents. The island was last visited by ornithologists exactly one hundred years ago.
"In the midst of the disappearing rainforests of the Philippines and the drastic loss of biodiversity, the discovery of the Calayan Rail in one of the most fragile habitats in the archipelago is a sign of hope that it’s not too late to conserve these remote rainforests. But we need to conserve and learn about it before it’s too late," added Gonzalez.
Related News , taken from Philippine Star
A new species of flightless bird has been discovered living on a tiny island in the northern Philippines where the inhabitants formerly ate them, scientists and birdwatchers said yesterday.
The bird, named the "Calayan Rail," is the size of a small crow and has dark brown plumage and bright orange-red legs and beak, said Carl Oliveros, who helped lead the joint Filipino-British expedition that found it.
The researchers had been doing an inventory of wildlife in Calayan — which is one of a volcanic chain of the Babuyan islands off Luzon and can only be reached by boat — for weeks before finding the creature.
Filipino wildlife biologist Carmela Española made the discovery in May when she saw a group of unfamiliar birds foraging in the undergrowth as she was walking through the rainforest.
Islanders said the bird was known as "piding" and that they had even caught it for food in the past but they were unaware it was a previously unclassified species, according to Oliveros.
The new species is "apparently not under immediate threat," Oliveros said, but its limited distribution makes it vulnerable to habitat loss and predators introduced to the island such as cats and rats.
Oliveros told AFP his group, Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, had checked with international experts at Birdlife, and learned that this species had never been recorded before.
Related to the far more common Moorhen, rails are a type of ground-feeding, ground-nesting birds with straight, pointed bills.
Oliveros said the expedition gave the bird the scientific name of Gallirallus calayanensis because they wanted its island habitat to get more attention.
One specimen of the bird has been sent to the National Museum, he added.
Birdlife International said on its website that the new bird was most similar in appearance to the Okinawa Rail from the Japan’s Ryukyu Islands to the northeast, although there were differences in voice and color.
Oliveros said the two birds were likely to be closely related as they were both found in the east Asian region.
Birdlife added that the expedition team would do further research on the bird’s habitat and numbers, while working with the community to minimize threats and protect the forest.
The government’s Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau said Calayan was not listed under the official protected wildlife areas but the discovery of the new bird species might help in efforts to have the area covered as well.
Eighteen of the 20 living species of flightless rail are considered threatened, and the majority of rail species which have become extinct since 1600 were also flightless, Birdlife added. — AFP
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