12. Conservation management of endangered birds
Carl G. Jones
12.1 Introduction
There is a long history of managing endangered birds. Techniques were first
developed for game bird management and later adapted from falconry and avi-
culture to a wide range of species. Endangered birds have usually been managed
at the population level by enhancing habitats, providing artificial nest sites or
food, or controlling predators and pathogens. Manipulating the productivity of
breeding birds has a more recent history and techniques are still being developed,
especially in North America, New Zealand, and Mauritius.
In Mauritius and New Zealand, work on endangered birds on the mainland
and on small offshore islands has involved habitat restoration and whole ecosys-
tem management. This has led to integrated restoration programs addressing the
ultimate environmental (e.g. habitat destruction and degradation), and the
proximate demographic factors (poor survival and reproduction) that cause
endangerment.
12.2 Process in the restoration of endangered species
The restoration of an endangered bird population usually starts with a synthesis
of existing knowledge of the species, its life history and numbers, followed by an
evaluation of the problems it faces. Research is often necessary to fill important
gaps. The goal of the conservation effort is to alleviate the factors that prevent the
population’s recovery. With Critically Endangered and Endangered species, that
by definition have small populations, it is important to increase the population
as rapidly as possible and hence address the proximate limiting factors while at
the same time working toward rectifying the ultimate causes of the species rarity.