Emergency rescue plan is being rolled out for a bird so rare that survey teams searching across 12 mountains in Java failed to find a single one
By
An international action plan to save a bird species with fewer than 250 individuals left on the planet is being rolled out by conservationists.
Javan green magpies are so rare that scientists searching across 12 mountains in Java, Indonesia failed to find a single one. As such, a new plan – bringing together governments, conservation organisations and zoos from across the world – is hoped to help pull the species back from the brink. A 2023 study attributed declines in the species due to excessive trade as ‘master birds’ in the songbird trade. Master birds rarely compete and are instead used to train competing birds.
Enjoying this article? Check out our related reads…
The action plan sets out more than 80 actions to be implemented in the next decade, ranging from expanding coordinated breeding programmes to developing plans for the eventual reintroduction of birds bred in human care into protected wild habitats.
Bird specialists from Chester Zoo in the UK were among 48 international experts who travelled to Indonesia to help shape the plan, setting out actions to confront habitat loss and illegal online trade. Online trade of Javan green magpies continues in Indonesia through channels like WhatsApp and Facebook, despite being unlawful.
Currently, Chester Zoo cares for 12 of the 130 Javan green magpies within the global conservation breeding population. It first became involved with the species back in 2012, when it established the first conservation breeding programme for Javan green magpies.
‘This is a bird that most people have never heard of, and that’s part of the problem,’ said Chester Zoo’s head of birds Andrew Owen.
‘The Javan green magpie is running out of time – and running out of places to hide. When survey teams searched across mountain after mountain in Java and found nothing, it brought home just how desperate the situation has become,’ Owen continued.
If the plan to save the species proves successful, it won’t be just Javan green magpies that benefit. Researchers note a cascading effect on other species could ensue, benefiting the critically endangered rufous-fronted laughingthrush (Garrulax rufifrons) and threatened montane ecosystems.
