predator control, supplemental feeding, nest-site management, together with
reintroductions, and translocations.
To be effective, endangered species management has to be focused. It is possible
only with teams of dedicated personnel, long-term commitment from supporting
organizations, and access to skilled technicians.
Programs for the four species considered in Table 12.1 followed the steps
discussed in Section 12.2. From the first conservation orientated field studies
(Stage 1) to the start of intensive management (Stage 3) took between 8 years for
the Black Robin and 20 years for the Echo Parakeet. The intensive management
stage took about 9 years for the Black Robin (Butler and Merton 1992), 10 years
for the Mauritius Kestrel (Jones et al. 1995) and 10 years for the Pink Pigeon
(Swinnerton 2001). The Echo Parakeet is still at Stage Three and is likely to be
intensively managed for a total of 10–12 years. Hence, these data suggest that it
can take from 17 to 30 years to restore a population from being Critically
Endangered (and poorly studied) through to the stage at which it requires mini-
mal further management. For large, long lived, slow breeding species (Kakapo,
Californian Condor, Whooping Crane), this time is likely to be much longer.
As we learn more about bird management, it should be possible to compress
Stages 1 and 2 to a few years. But it seems likely that the restoration of Critically
Endangered bird populations will always be a relatively long-term commitment.
It is also likely that, with the increasing loss and degradation of habitat, it will be
necessary to manage some bird populations in perpetuity if they are to survive,
providing safe nest-sites, and food and managing predators.
A basic premise of intensive management is that it addresses proximate rather
than ultimate causes of endangerment (Temple 1978). A population may be res-
cued in the short term by intensive management but long-term survival is best
guaranteed if this management is coupled with efforts to address the ultimate
problems, often related to habitat loss or degradation (Cade and Temple 1995).
Intensive management often helps to clarify which environmental problems are
causing the species’ rarity, and it is recovery work that may drive the efforts to
address the ultimate problems.
On Mauritius, species restoration has driven habitat restoration. The political
will to establish a National Park arose as a direct result of restoration work on the
endemic birds. Similarly, in New Zealand the restoration of many offshore
islands has been done primarily to provide refuges for endangered birds.
Most critically endangered species would probably respond favorably to intensive
management. Gurney’s Pitta Pitta gurneyihad a known population of nine pairs
in 1997 due primarily to habitat destruction (Stattersfield and Capper 2000). In
June 2003 a survey revealed 31 birds of which 18 were males and an estimate of
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