It is often useful to keep a close watch on wild pairs, monitoring their behavior,
anticipating and reacting to problems that may affect them. Such activities help
to provide insight into the problems wild pairs face, and may enable the rescue of
eggs and young from failing nests. They may also give evidence on how factors
such as food, weather, and parasites affect the birds involved.
This is the stage when hypotheses are proposed and tested empirically, in order to
identify the threats and to evaluate different approaches to improving productivity
and survival. Staff are trained in the techniques of intensive management. These are
the preliminaries to the next two stages.
12.2.3Stage three: intensive management
Usually only applied to critically endangered populations, this stage is aimed at
addressing limiting factors identified in stage two. The focus is on maximizing
the productivity and survival of each individual, in order to increase numbers as
rapidly as possible, and at the same time maintain as much genetic diversity, and
where possible to avoid inbreeding. Intensive management may involve captive
breeding and release, translocating birds onto predator free islands (where they can
be carefully managed), and egg and brood manipulations. Intensive management
requires great attention to detail, and may need help from avian pediatricians,
veterinarians, reintroduction specialists, and other experienced support personnel
(climbers, trappers, predator control, and captive-breeding personnel).
12.2.4Stage four: population management
Populations that have not reached critically low levels can be managed without
resorting to any form of intensive care, assuming that management actions
enable numbers to recover to safe and sustainable levels. Management is under-
taken at the population level, and is aimed at increasing a population’s growth by
addressing previously identified limiting factors. Typical approaches would
include protection against human persecution, provision of habitat or secure
nest-sites, supplemental feeding, predator or disease control, translocations to
more suitable areas (but without the intensive management of Stage three). This
is the stage when numbers are sufficient for detailed research to identify the most
important factors that limit the population. Management is driven by these
findings, and for many bird species may have to be long-term. The staff need to
include researchers.
12.2.5Stage five: monitoring
It is important to carefully monitor populations of conservation concern, both
during and after restoration, so the impacts of the management can be evaluated.
Consistent long-term population monitoring requires, at the least, continual
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