Islands – Bird Refuges or Traps
Islands Protect Birds or Make Them Vulnerable to Predators
Isolated from the mainland, islands are refuges for birds when predators are absent, and death traps when predators are introduced.
The Marlborough Express in New Zealand reports that the Orange-fronted Parakeet is recovering from near-extinction on a couple of offshore islands that are predator free. Specifically, the islands are free of rats and stoats, introduced species that have virtually wiped out the birds on the mainland.
This reminds me of the ongoing discussions here on the Birds page about feral cats. Feral cat eradications on many islands have restored safe environments for sea birds while endangered species such as the Kakapo have been relocated to islands to protect them from introduced predators on larger land masses where eradication isn’t possible.
Conversely, the introduction of feral cats, rats, and stoats to islands has been disastrous for bird species there. The Dodo bird is the most famous example of an island bird wiped out when new predators arrived. There are many others. I hope we’ve learned our lesson, and that, in the future, we’ll be able to keep cats, rats, stoats, and other predators off islands so that they remain safe havens for birds and other native species.
Feral cats on Birds at Suite101:
