MAURITIUS KESTREL - Road construction threatens habitat

News from BirdLife International about the endangered Mauritius Kestrel, now threatened by new road construction. The building work also threatens the Mauritius Bulbul.

Work has begun on a road which could devastate part of the forest heartland of the Mauritius Kestrel Falco punctatus, one of the world’s flagship conservation success stories. The South-Eastern Highway will pass through the Mauritius east coast mountains Important Bird Area (IBA), cutting a swathe through some of the last remaining good quality forest in this part of Mauritius.

The kestrel was once the world’s rarest bird. From near extinction in the 1970s, its population has grown to between 800 and 1000 individuals, thanks to a captive breeding and reintroduction programme run by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and the Government of Mauritius, working with international partners including the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and The Peregrine Fund. The recovery of the Mauritius Kestrel is one of the world’s greatest species conservation success stories. The south-eastern forest is home to half the world population, centred around the Ferney Valley, where the first reintroductions took place. Ferney Valley is in the path of both proposed routes for the new highway.

Read the complete article