Syd -
At 07:28 15/09/99 +1000, you wrote:
>There must be someone at birding-aus who knows and can say for sure?
The following information comes from BirdLife Conservation Series No.7,
"Endemic Bird Areas of the World" (Stattersfield et al, 1998):
Sangihe and Talaud
This Indonesian EBA extends northwards from near the tip of the Minnahassa
peninsula of northern Sulawesi towards the southern tip of Mindanao in the
Philippines; it comprises the Sangihe and Talaud island groups and the tiny
island of Miangas, all of which are in Sulawesi Utara province. The
Sangihe group are mountainous, rising to 1,784 m on Siau and 1,320 km on
the main island of Sangihe, but Talaud and Miangas are relatively
low-lying. The natural vegetation of the islands is tropical lowland
evergreen rain forest, with tropical montane rain forest at the higher
altitudes... On Sangihe, however, virtually all of the forest has been
replaced by coconut and nutmeg plantations and the secondary vegetation of
abandoned gardens.
Restricted-range species comprise the Elegant Imperial-pigeon, Grey
Imperial-pigeon (Vulnerable), Red-and-Blue Lory (Endangered), Sangihe
Hanging-parrot (Endangered), Sulawesi Kingfisher, Lilac-cheeked Kingfisher,
Talaud Kingfisher, Pied Cuckoo-shrike, Cerulean Paradise-flycatcher
(Critical) and Elegant Sunbird (Endangered).
A form of shrike-thrush from Sangihe was provisionally treated as a
subspecies of Rufous Shrike-thrush but studies since its rediscovery
suggest that it would be better treated as an endemic species. In 1996, a
new taxon of Gymnocrex rail was found on Talaud, and this may also prove to
be an endemic species.
The main threat to most of the threatened species is continuing habitat
loss, particularly on Sangihe, but the Red-and-Blue Lory is also threatened
by illegal trapping for the wild bird trade. A more widespread threatened
species which occurs on Talaud is Blue-naped Parrot (Endangered) which
formerly occurred widely in the Philippines but is threatened by habitat
loss and heavy trapping for the wild bird trade.
Cheers,
Hugo
Hugo Phillipps
Communications Coordinator
Birds Australia
415 Riversdale Road
HAWTHORN EAST 3123, Australia
tel: (03) 9882 2622, fax: (03) 9882 2677
email: <>
Web site: <http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au>
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