Biology
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The kakerori is a highly inquisitive and very territorial bird (3). Most one and two year old birds tend to form flocks away from territories, although some join their parents and help them to defend their territory and raise further young (3). Adult pairs remain in their territories throughout the year. They breed from October to February, with most eggs being laid in October and early November (3). The bulky nests are typically built of moss in a forked tree branch overhanging a stream (3) (4). One to two eggs are laid per clutch, and if a nest fails, pairs are able to produce a second clutch (3). Although kakerori are diminutive birds, they defend their nests fiercely; if an introduced ship rat (Rattus rattus) threatens the nest, the adults will stay and fight to the death (4).
Conservation
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The kakerori has been rescued from the brink of extinction by a devoted conservation initiative, with the close involvement of local landowners. The Takitumu Conservation Area was set up in 1996, building on the work of the Kakerori recovery Programme, initiated in 1987. The valleys that support the kakerori are owned by three traditional landowning clans, the Kainuku, Karika and Manavaroa families, who joined forces to save the unique and highly endangered kakerori. The three families took over management of the project and formed a co-ordinating committee in 1996 (4) and are now developing an economically sustainable ecotourism project (2). Intensive rat control and nest protection began in the area in 1989, and an annual census of the population has since been taken every spring. The population increased every year, reaching 100 individuals in 1995, 200 by 2000 and 248 by 2001. In 2000 BirdLife International downgraded the status of the species from Critically Endangered to Endangered, a fitting reward for the efforts of this intensive conservation programme. Since 2002 the focus of the project has shifted from recovery to sustainable management of the population. The very high vulnerability of the single Rarotonga population to chance events, such as cyclones, led to the establishment of a second population on the rat-free island of Atiu in 2002. Early indications that this population is breeding successfully show that the kakerori's eggs are now no longer in one basket.
Description
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In 1989, this small flycatcher was one of the ten rarest birds in the world, teetering on the brink of extinction with a declining population of just 29 birds. Thanks to an intensive conservation programme, however, the bird has made a spectacular recovery and, as a result, has been downgraded from Critically Endangered to Endangered by the IUCN Red List of threatened species (3). Both males and females progress through the same characteristic sequence of plumage colouration as they age, which allows different age groups to be identified easily (3). Year-old birds are bright orange, with a yellow base to the bill; two year-olds retain the orange colouration, but the base of the bill becomes dark blue; three year-olds have a variable mixed grey and orange plumage and a black bill; all birds over four years of age are entirely grey and retain the black bill (2) (3). The Maori name of the bird, kakerori, is onomatopoeic of the loud territorial call given by males (2).
Habitat
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Found in forested steep-sided wet valleys that are sheltered from prevailing south-east trade winds (2).
Range
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Endemic to Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands, where it is found only in the Totokoitu, Turoa and western Avana Valleys (2). Until the middle of the 19th century, the kakerori was fairly common, but by the early 1900s it was believed to be extinct (2). Numbers were found to be worryingly low in the 1980s, and by 1989 just 29 individual kakerori remained. An intensive programme of conservation has rescued this species from the brink of extinction, and in August 2001 10 birds were relocated to the Island of Atiu, where successful breeding has since occurred (3).
Status
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Classified as Endangered (EN D) on the IUCN Red List 2004 (1).
Threats
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The main factor thought to be responsible for the dramatic decline of the kakerori is predation by the introduced ship rat (Rattus rattus), which continues to be the biggest problem facing the species. Cats (Felis cattus) are also thought to predate juveniles and adult birds (3). Due to the very small range of this species, it is still vulnerable to chance events, such as cyclones or the introduction of a new predator or disease (2).
Rarotonga monarch
provided by wikipedia EN
The Rarotonga monarch (Pomarea dimidiata), also known as the Rarotonga flycatcher or kakerori, is a species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae.[2] It is endemic to the Cook Islands.
Taxonomy and systematics
The Rarotonga monarch was originally described in the genus Monarcha. Alternate names include Cook Island flycatcher, Cook Islands monarch, and Rarotonga monarch-flycatcher.
Description
The Rarotonga monarch is a most unusual bird in a number of ways, including being the only bird known to undergo sequential changes in plumage as it grows. The initial plumage of orange to orange-grey changes to pure grey when maturity is reached after four years.[3]
Behaviour and ecology
Owing to its tropical oceanic island location, the Rarotonga monarch is exceptionally long-lived for a bird with a mass of only 22 grams (0.8 oz),[3] having an adult survival of between 85 and 89 percent, a life expectancy of seven to nine years, and a maximum lifespan of around 24 years. These figures are comparable to large Australian passerines like the superb lyrebird or satin bowerbird[4] and more than ten times the life expectancies of similar sized Holarctic songbirds.
Breeding
The extraordinary longevity of these birds may explain the evolution of helpers at the nest in a family where this feature is otherwise completely absent.[5] Males can breed at one year, but do not do so in practice until they are four years old.[6]
Threats
Since the introduction of the black rat and feral cat, adult mortality has more than doubled; a change sufficient to reduce what was previously a highly numerous bird[6] to one of the most endangered birds in the world by the middle 1980s, when the Rarotonga monarch was listed as one of the highest conservation priorities among all Pacific Island birds.[7] The annual pre-breeding removal of rats (starting in the late 1980s) from its principal breeding area on the south coast of Rarotonga (at the Takitumu Conservation Area) by staff and volunteers has made breeding significantly more successful: around two thirds of pairs assisted by a few helpers can now rear the normal clutch of two eggs, whereas in the 1980s breeding attempts had a success rate as low as eleven percent.[6] Despite the growth in population, a major tropical cyclone could destroy this population growth with extreme swiftness, so that conservation work is still very important.
Status
The Rarotonga monarch was limited to Rarotonga until a second population was established on Atiu Island in 2001.[8] In the 1990s its population was estimated at fewer than 30 birds in the wild.[9] In 2022 the population was assessed at over 700 birds.[9]
References
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Rarotonga monarch: Brief Summary
provided by wikipedia EN
The Rarotonga monarch (Pomarea dimidiata), also known as the Rarotonga flycatcher or kakerori, is a species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the Cook Islands.
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