Growing Native Plants for a Rare Brazilian Bird
separate parts of the Yunguilla Reserve. This protected area now provides 493 acres of arid brush habitat for the Endangered Paleheaded Brushfinch. Back from the brink of extinction, the species’ population has surged from 30 birds in 1998, when Yunguilla was established with ABC support, to between 240 and 340 individuals today. Female Greater Sage-Grouse by Greg Homel, Natural Elements Productions
Caribbean Seabird Nesting Island Now Mouse-Free
Araripe Manakin by David Fisher, Neotropical Bird Club
In northeastern Brazil, a reforestation project conducted by the Brazilian conservation organization Aquasis, with support from ABC, continues our efforts to save the Critically Endangered Araripe Manakin.
Bridled Tern by Glenn Tepke
BIRDS in BRIEF
Part of the British territory of Anguilla, 28-acre Sombrero Island is of outsized importance to nesting seabirds, including Masked and Brown Boobies, Bridled Terns, and Brown Noddies, as well as an endemic lizard and more than 40 insect species found nowhere else. Thanks to a thorough eradication and monitoring program conducted by the Anguilla National Trust, in collaboration with Fauna & Flora International, the New Zealand-based Wildlife International Management, Ltd., and others, the island is now free of introduced mice, which had been competing with and preying upon these species.
In Ecuador, Key Parcel Enhances Habitat for Endangered Brushfinch
Cícero Simão planting native trees at the reserve. Photo by Oasis Araripe Reserve.
See more: abcbirds.org/ araripe-manakin-habitat-pays-off.
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B I R D CO N S E R V A TI ON | SPRI NG 2022
In late March, ABC partner Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco (Jocotoco) acquired a key 12-acre property connecting two previously
Once again, a stipulation in the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 has blocked the possibility of listing the rapidly declining Greater Sage-Grouse under the Endangered Species Act. Fortunately, the Bureau of Land Management has pledged to revisit the Greater Sage-Grouse land-use plans from 2015 that have proven insufficient to conserve the bird across its range. To increase the plan’s success, ABC and other conservation groups are calling for protection of grouse strongholds from oil and gas drilling and mining.
Photo by Byron Puglla
Foresters at the Oasis Araripe Reserve are working to master cultivation of 26 native tree and shrub species, many never before grown from seed, with the goal of providing fruits for the birds year-round, including during the food-scarce dry season. In 2020, almost 700 trees and shrubs were planted, followed by 300 more already this year. Fewer than 700 mature Araripe Manakins are thought to remain.
No Brakes for Sage-Grouse Slide in 2022
LEFT: The Yunguilla Reserve expansion was made possible by the family that previously owned the property: From left, Mery Mogrovejo (with baby) and Karina Mogrovejo, daughters of the former owner, with Jocotoco’s southern reserves director Byron Puglla.
