Naturalized Parrots of the World

Naturalized Parrots of the World

Stephen Pruett-Jones (ed.)
Princeton University Press | 2021
304 pp. | 18.5 x 26.2 cm
Hardback | £35 / $45 | ISBN: 9780691204413 

As a group, the parrots (Psittaciformes) are highly threatened, with 16 species already extinct and 29% of the rest—118 of the 404 extant species recognised under BirdLife International taxonomy—now threatened with extinction, 20 of them in the highest threat category, Critically Endangered. Habitat loss, persecution of these (largely) seed predators as pests, and direct hunting of the birds for food, are some of the causes of decline, but the pet trade has been a major driver that has also led simultaneously to the establishment of exotic populations of a number of species, often far from their native range. This book is the first to provide a detailed overview of naturalised parrots, with half of the book focussing on distribution and ecology, and the other providing case studies. It is a welcome overview and point of entry into a fascinating subject. 

The first part of the book covers subjects of relevance like the parrot trade, distribution, genetics of established populations, parrot-human relations, conservation, ecological impacts, management and so on. These are well-compiled, very useful summaries, amply referenced and illustrated with numerous tables and graphics. There is plenty of good, hard information here about everything from population trends to economic impacts. Each chapter has been written by notable specialists in the topic at hand, and the chapters are individually well laid out, all including summary conclusions. The graphs and tables are generally helpful and display information at a glance. The figures at a global scale are, however, sometimes of insufficient size to adequately convey detail. For example, Fig. 2.1 on p. 30, which shows world distribution of naturalised parrots, is too small to feasibly show most Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico, which harbours self-sustaining populations of at least eight species of exotic parrot. The same figure omits Venezuela, with its well-known urban populations of Rose-ringed Parakeet Psittacula krameri in Caracas. 

The case studies take up the second half of the book and either focus on species—Rose-ringed Parakeet and Monk Parakeet Myiopsitta monachus, the two most widespread—or geographic areas like the USA, Europe, the Hawaiian Islands, South Africa and Australia. Again, Rose-ringed Parakeet populations are not indicated in Venezuela, or even Puerto Rico (where first reported in 1979) or indeed anywhere else in the West Indies. These chapters are good primers those who wish to inform themselves about the real impacts of naturalised parrots, given the ongoing debates about whether such species should be controlled. There is plenty to absorb here and extensive reference sections are provided. 

This is a much needed compilation of information on the world’s naturalised parrots. Although aimed primarily at the ornithological and conservation community, there will be much here for the amateur enthusiast to enjoy. The care taken in the production, with high-quality paper and a pleasing design, does the content justice and makes this an ideal gift. A very worthwhile publication that will be a major reference for years to come.

Orchids on Chapel Green wildflower meadow, Rocklands

Flower-rich meadow with orchids, Chapel Green, 12 June 2019

After an apparent absence of several years⁠—though these things can be notoriously elusive!⁠—Bee Ophrys apifera and Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii are coming into flower on Chapel Green. In previous years the best area for these orchids has been the southern edge of the meadow adjoining the road, the spot that is driest and has lowest fertility thanks to years of removal of hay. This year, the orchids are close to the pond margin in a much wetter, more fertile area (see photo) that we have been managing precisely to increase floral diversity. This morning there was one flowering spike of Bee and two of Common Spotted-orchid.

Bee Orchid Ophrys apifera

Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Update 30 June 2019

Today's count 1 Bee and 7 Common Spotted-orchids.

Update 7 July 2019

Today's count 1 Bee and 9 Common Spotted-orchids.


 

Ghost Moth lek on Rocklands' Chapel Green

Ghost Moths Hepialus humuli are one of the few British moths that have entered popular culture and are—or used to be—generally known to the non-specialist.  In earlier times, when insects were more abundant, meadows more commonplace, street lighting less widespread, and people abroad in the gloaming, an encounter with this species would have been a frequent early summer occurrence. Frequent but nevertheless remarkable. The memorable sight of a dozen or more large white moths hovering over the grass tops as if tethered to a thread in the fading light doubtless gave rise to their name.

Today this sight is considerably less familiar. In fact, unless they make a special effort, even moth-ers have rarely seen it. So when keen moth-man and wildlife writer James Lowen asked if anyone in East Anglia knew of a lek to cover in his forthcoming book, I racked my brains and suggested the two places that I had seen male moths in recent years: Old Buckenham village green and Chapel Green, Rocklands. This latter is a tiny plot of wildlife meadow that was restored by Rocklands Parish Council two decades ago through a Millenium Meadows grant, and financial support from Norfolk Rural Community Council, Norfolk County Council and guidance from Norfolk Wildlife Trust. It is a tiny (c. 0·015 ha) fragment of managed habitat that holds a surprisingly diverse and interesting flora and fauna, amongst which is a lek of Ghost Moths. I say lek, but when I checked back through my records I saw that I had only seen single males in June 2014, and (twice) in July 2016.

On D-Day, Thursday 6 June, despite a cool and windy evening, at 9.45 p.m.. I decided that I could no longer put off checking whether this year would produce an improvement on the singles that my memory had embellished into a weaving and bobbing troupe. I was fully prepared to tell James that the promised lek had not materialised and may have been unreliable in any case. What a relief to find two, then four, then finally a dozen male Ghost Moths "pendeculating" – Kettlewell's neologism for South's "swaying themselves to and fro without making progress".

The following evening, James was able to visit Chapel Green, arriving at 9.20 p.m. on his way back from another mothing assignment at Dungeness with moth expert Will Soar. For the first 20 minutes we enjoyed the meadow's wildflower display, twitching at passing Straw Dots Rivula sericealis and Common Swifts Korscheltellus lupulina (the latter a close relative of Ghost Moth) identified by Will. It was not until 9.40 p.m. that the first of our glowing white targets appeared, immediately followed by another, and another... Soon a group of six males were swaying and weaving on one side of the meadow, with another couple on the other. Our neighbour Carolyn, who coordinates the Chapel Green Management Committee, came out to enjoy the spectacle. We wondered if we might be lucky enough to see females, and shortly afterwards a dull yellowish brown female did indeed appear, immediately to mate with her chosen male. We found two pairs of mating moths, both on tall grass spikes, as well as a bloated female that was surely about to deposit her eggs. By 10.00 p.m. the display was over, and only these five Ghost Moths remained, clinging to their respective stems. The entire show had lasted exactly 20 minutes.



What is going on? A lek is an aggregation of male animals that come together, usually at a traditional site, to display together in order to compete for access to females. The phenomenon is especially well-documented in birds (particularly grouse and manakins) but not so widely-known in insects. In the case of Ghost Moths, the males hover over the grass, fanning their wings in order to release from scent brushes on the tarsus of the rear pair of legs a pheromone that attracts the females. The latter enter the lek briefly, select a mate, copulate on a grass stem and then fly off to drop their eggs over suitable grassy areas. The process was diligently observed and described by Mallet in his 1984 paper.

Formerly common, Ghost Moth is now a UK Biodiversity Action Plan species, listed because its populations are declining markedly. Conservation of this and a suite of other disappearing grassland plants and animals species is precisely the reason that Rocklands Parish Council manage this small area as a wildflower meadow.


More information?

Ghost Moth on NorfolkMoths here.

Rocklands Parish Council Chapel Green wildflower meadow page here.

Previous posts about management of Chapel Green wildflower meadow here.

James Lowen's blog here.


References

Kettlewell, H.B.D. (1973) The evolution of melanism. Clarendon Press: Oxford. 423 pp.

Mallet, J. (1984) Sex roles in the ghost moth Hepialus humuli (L.) and a review of mating in the Hepialidae (Lepidoptera). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 80(1): 67–82. PDF.

South, R. (1908) The moths of the British Isles, second series. Frederick Warne & Co.: London. 388 pp.


Updates

James Lowen's wonderfully illustrated account of tonight's display here.

On the evening of 11 June, despite cool temperatures (10°C), moderate drizzle and a damp SE 2–3 breeze, we counted at least 14 males lekking for exactly 20 minutes 2149–2209. The females are more difficult to spot, but we did see two come in and mate with males. The mild (15°C) evening of 17 June was even more active, with a high count for this year of at least 32 males and 4+ females between 2155 and 2215 (and perhaps later, as I left while it was still in full swing). A quick visit at 2210–2220 on the cool (14°C), evening of 22 June showed 24 males lekking, along with 1 female, though did not have time to check thoroughly.

Red Knot (Calidris canutus rufa) resighting in Venezuela and Canada

Red Knot FELG9HL, Falcón, Venezuela, 29 Mar 2019. Photo: Gianco Angelozzi

On 29 March, a team of ornithologists working on a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network project (Sandra Giner, Virginia Sanz, Gianco Angelozzi and I) were carrying out International Shorebird Censuses on the Punta Maragüey spit on the western coast of Falcón with Jose Ochoa. Gianco was able to get close to a flock of several hundred Red Knot (Calidris canutus rufa) moulting into breeding plumage, and using our best optics - a superb new Kowa scope donated in 2018 by Cley Spy - to pick out and photograph seven flagged individuals, of which only FELG9HL was legible; this bird also carried a geolocator (Gianco's photograph attached - more here).

Red Knot FELG9HL, Ontario, Canada, 20 May 2019. Photo: photographer unknown

Today I checked the bird's whereabouts and found that it had been photographed (attached - photographer unknown) 52 days later on 20 May in magnificent full breeding plumage at a reservoir W of Townsend in S Ontario, Canada. This elucidates only part of the jigsaw puzzle of migratory connectivity for this threatened shorebird, and quite appropriate given that this Manomet / WHSRN work is financed by Environment Canada. Next stop for these birds will be the high Arctic. The earliest data available for FELG9HL come from 30 May 2011 in Delaware, so the bird is perhaps 10 years old and will have made this journey as many times.

A brief history of Chapel Green, Rocklands, a community-managed wildlife meadow

Chapel Green in Rockland St. Peter has been a public watering hole since 1814 and there is a long history of active protection and management of the area for the use and enjoyment of the community. The green itself has been a meadow as far back as living memory can recall. Up until recent times, livestock have used the site for grazing. After a period of relative neglect—during which time rubble from neighbouring house developments was dumped, the green was used for car parking, sewage from an adjacent house drained directly onto the land, and the area was judged to be "in a rather parlous state"—towards the turn of the millennium, a dedicated Rockland Chapel Green Restoration Group acting on behalf of Rocklands Parish Council (RPC) sought recuperate the area. Millennium Meadow funding was obtained from Norfolk County Council (NCC), Norfolk Rural Community Council and RPC, and with advice from Norfolk Wildlife Trust and the NCC Countryside Officer, the community was able to clean the pond and restore the meadow.

As a result, for the past decade or two, the small (c. 0·015 ha) grassland has been managed as a wild-flower meadow by a succession of stewards appointed by the Parish Council, of which—since 2011—I am the incumbent. Management consists of an annual cut of hay in August–September, carried out by the Parish Council, followed by regular mowing during late summer through to early spring, effected by the steward or volunteers. During the spring and early summer, the meadow is left to flower and seed, ensuring the perpetuation of a rich diverse community of native flowers which support an impressive array of insect pollinators.

Up until 2012, the annual cut was carried out by the Bacon family on behalf of Parish Council, sometimes with help from various neighbours. The Bacons owned appropriate cutting apparatus and a lorry to remove the cuttings, which made light work of the operation. Since they left the village, it has proved more difficult to arrange the cut, and the task has fallen to a group of neighbours, who have struggled to arrange it. Harold Neale was particularly helpful in 2014 and 2015, sourcing a rotary scythe and performing the cut. In 2016, after not inconsiderable effort, and two promises of machinery, we failed to harvest the hay. This meant that the green looked lank and untidy for the best part of a year. Although the plants did flower as usual, the show was somewhat obscured by long grass. Fortunately, in 2017 our local Walnut Tree Garden Nursery offered us their brand new wheeled strimmer and we were able to effect the cut on 13 August as usual. The remaining stubble was mown to a short sward and the aftermath was cut by petrol mower during the last week of August. It is to be expected that the green will return to its usual state. We are also assured that the strimmer will be available in future. The group of neighbours that participated in this year’s cut is happy to continue to maintain the area in future if we can secure the appropriate equipment for the annual cut.

We have recently been made aware that several residents have been unhappy with the management of the green and would prefer to replace it with a frequently-mown short grass lawn. At the same time, one neighbour has asked that the green simply be cut once a year and the hay left to decompose, thus allowing the area to become a high-fertility meadow with a flora typical of our roadside verges. It is proposed that these ideas be discussed at the forthcoming Parish Council meeting.

If there is a proposal to change the management of the green, it would seem sensible that the community be made aware of its history, the considerable effort that the Parish Council has invested in turning it into a wild-flower meadow and its current ecological and social value to the village, so that we can make an informed democratic decision.

November 2017 update

RPC organised a community-wide vote on the future of Chapel Green with options being the continuation of the traditional management regime or conversion to a close-cropped lawn. The former option was overwhelmingly supported. RPC has created a Chapel Green Management Committee in order to carry out future management in accordance with the wishes of the Rocklands community.

Wildflower meadow management at Chapel Green, Rocklands

Today villagers got together to carry out the annual cut of Chapel Green wild-flower meadow. Further posts on this wonderful local asset, managed by the community on behalf of Rocklands Parish Council, are to be found here.

The green had unfortunately grown quite long and rank, because we were unable to carry out the annual cut in 2016.

Thanks to the loan of a wheeled petrol strimmer by the kind people at the village's Walnut Tree Garden Nursery, we made short work of the cut.

Our late afternoon break, with the hay almost cut, consisted of Carolyn's locally harvested, home-made elderflower cordial, freshly harvested apple (from our garden) crumble, and tea.

After a further mow with the lawnmower, the green is ready for the coming year's growth.

Hay-making on Chapel Green, Rocklands

Before...

Today we made our main annual cut of the Chapel Green hay meadow in Rocklands. For the past several years, this small (c. 0·01 ha) recovered grassland has been managed as a wildflower meadow. Since I was a boy, such meadows have all but disappeared from the United Kingdom, many of them being ploughed up, converted to pasture or built on; in all, 97% of our meadows have been lost since World War II and it is now our most endangered type of vegetation. As in many other matters, Rocklands has bucked the trend and our modest patch of flower-rich grassland has been improving in quality even in the short five years that we have lived here. Chapel Green is an asset of which the village can be justifiably proud.

♂ Common Blue Polyommatus icarus

Traditional meadows grow on soils which have been impoverished by many years of grazing, which constantly removes nutrients from the soil. A regime of late-summer cutting, just after the flowers have set seed, and subsequent removal of the hay keeps nutrients low and enables the more interesting and less widespread plants to flourish. From the nodding heads of Cowslips Primula veris that herald the spring, through the June carpet of yellow Bird's-foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus and Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor to late summer Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria, there is always something in bloom. The purple spikes of Knapweed Centaurea nigra and yellow discs of Fleabane Pulicaria dysenterica attract butterflies which add to the palette: we have over a dozen species, and resident colonies of Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola, Common Blue Polyommatus icarus and gaudy Six-spot Burnet Zygaena filipendulae moths. A careful observer might find the curious Bee Orchid Ophrys apifera – no longer a common plant and seven of which flowered in 2014 – or Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii, the first spike of which appeared this summer. In all, the green is home to fifty species of flowering plants. Insects and seeds attract the birds, and Swallows and Swifts skim over the grass, Goldfinches worry the seedheads and owls hope for a vole – Barn, Tawny and Little Owls all visit. The population of Field Voles reaches such levels that on the 2013 cut the fleeing mammals were almost biblical in proportions. Chapel Green's pond is home to Great Crested Newts Triturus cristatus, Grass Snakes Natrix natrix and several types of dragonfly. Kingfishers check in from time to time; our first, bitterly cold winter a Snipe huddled in our drainage ditch, while last year a Sedge Warbler established its territory in the tall Great Willowherb Epilobium hirsutum and Reedmace Typha latifolia at the water margin.

After the cut, we will wait for the aftermath to emerge, close-cut perhaps two or three times more and then let the meadow settle down for the winter. All we need to maintain this rich and diverse meadow is to continue the regime of late-summer cuts, remove the resulting hay, and ensure that cars do not park on the area in winter; nature will do the rest. Let's enjoy this wonderful asset to our village.

Finest quality hay, waiting to be bagged and removed

Marsh Harriers at Sculthorpe Moor

Thanks to a last-minute call from Mike Dawson and kind invitation from Lin Murray of the Hawk and Owl Trust, we had a wonderful evening out at Sculthorpe Moor Community Nature Reserve to watch the Marsh Harrier chicks being tagged and ringed by Phil Littler and John Middleton.

View over Marsh Harrier habitat from the Whitley Hide.

The evening began auspiciously, with a Red Kite soaring over the car park at the visitor centre shortly after we arrived. Together with the other guests we walked down towards the Whitley Hide, passing a feeding station together with a family of Bullfinches (male, female and two juveniles) on the way. Comfortably installed in an extremely well-appointed hide, we soon heard the song of a Cuckoo, which then flew across the meadow in front of us. As the ringers walked out to the nest, the female Marsh Harrier flushed and began to circle high above the nest, calling.

Meanwhile, the monitor showed the four chicks eyeing the approaching ornithologists. It was not long before the boys were holding three bags, each containing a Marsh Harrier chick (the youngest was too small to ring). In a very short time, Phil and John had measured, ringed and tagged all three chicks: two females and a male. They had nevertheless used the opportunity to explain the entire process to us, to tell us how previous tagged birds had fared and to discuss how the data had been used. We also learned how to sex the species, even at this young age, according to talon span.

Phil Littler & John Middleton get to work on the first bird, putting on the ring.

Phil Littler & John Middleton attaching the wing tag.

John Middleton with tagged and ringed Marsh Harrier chick.

I've done my fair share of ringing over the years but this was something else – truly inspirational place and people.

The next generation of Marsh Harriers: tagged, ringed and restored to the nest.

The progress of this nest can be followed on the Hawk and Owl Trust's live webcam. Must get over to Norwich Cathedral to see the Peregrines before they leave...

Táchira Antpitta Grallaria chthonia on the EDGE: evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered

Táchira Antpitta Grallaria chthonia (Mercedes Madriz)

Last week, a team of UK and US scientists published a paper identifying the conservation priorities for the world's 9,993 bird species based on evolutionary distinctness, a measure of a species’ contribution to the total evolutionary history of its clade[...], expected to capture uniquely divergent genomes and functions (Jetz et al. 2014). In parallel, the Zoological Society of London compiled a list of the world's 100 most Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) bird species. The findings were widely publicised by the media.

The ZSL's EDGE list includes one Venezuelan bird, Táchira Antpitta Grallaria chthonia, ranked 89th. This Venezuelan endemic is one of the very few of the world's birds that remain unknown in life: there are no photographs, no sound recordings and no living person has ever encountered one. The species is only known from four specimens collected at a single locality nearly 60 years ago. In short, it is an avian enigma. Its curious specific epithet derives from the Greek khthonios, meaning "in the earth" – and it might as well be.

The only evidence that the bird really exists are the four museum specimens languishing in the drawers of the Colección Ornitológica Phelps in Caracas and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. All of them were obtained from the same tiny spot: Hacienda La Providencia (c.7°38'N 72°15'W; Paynter 1982), along the río Chiquito in southwestern Táchira state, on the eastern slopes of the Páramo de Tamá in the Andes of western Venezuela. The holotype (COP 61.055, on deposit at USNM, now NMNH) was taken at 1,800 m by the Phelps Collection's intrepid collector Ramón Urbano on 10 February 1955, together with a paratype. Two further skins – both males like the previous type specimens – were obtained at 2,100 m the following March and the species was described later that year by Wetmore and Phelps (1956). The female has never been encountered.

That is the last time that the bird was seen in life. A three-day search specifically for the species in September 1990 was unsuccessful, but there was no reason to fear for its future, since the type locality still held pristine forest above 1600 m (Collar et al. 1992). By December 1996 however, coffee plantations in the río Chiquito Valley had advanced up to 1600 m, and much forest at 1900–2200 m (including the type locality) had been converted to agriculture; although the species was not found at this time, it may have been present in neighbouring valleys, which were apparently less disturbed (BirdLife International 2000).

The type locality for Grallaria chthonia and the forests that surround it lie within Venezuela's El Tamá National Park, an IUCN Category II protected area which extends over 1,390 km² and is designated as an Important Bird Area (Lentino & Esclasans 2005), part of the Colombian East Andes Endemic Bird Area. In addition, the known and potential range falls within one of the highest priority bioregions for the conservation of Venezuela's birds (Rodríguez et al. 2004). This region is also recognised as one of the most threatened in Venezuela, with at least 17% of the habitat within the National Park affected by deforestation for agriculture (principally coffee cultivation) and to create livestock pasture (Sharpe & Lentino 2008).

For the above reasons, Táchira Antpitta is considered Critically Endangered both nationally and internationally (Sharpe 2008, BirdLife International 2014). Its population is now estimated to consist of fewer than 50 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2014).

Basic field surveys are urgently needed in order to determine the true status of this virtually unknown antpitta; seasonality of vocalisation should be taken into account, with surveys to be carried out in May–June (BirdLife International 2014). In addition, there are questions over its true taxonomic status. On plumage characters, Grallaria chthonia appears to be most closely related to G. guatimalensis and Hilty (2003) suggests that it may be a higher elevation subspecies of the latter. On the other hand, Ridgely & Tudor (1994) and Krabbe & Schulenberg (2003) believe that chthonia is probably more more similar to (or even conspecific with) alleni. Until the species is better known, with molecular and vocal evidence considered, the true affinities of this evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered species will remain uncertain. 

Further information on this species – and all the world's birds – can be found at HBW Alive.


References

BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Lynx Edicions & BirdLife International: Barcelona & Cambridge. 852 pp.

BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Grallaria chthonia. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 17/04/2014.

Collar, N.J., Gonzaga, L.P., Krabbe, N., Madroño, A., Naranjo, L.G., Parker, T.A. & Wege, D.C. (1992) Threatened birds of the Americas. The ICBP/IUCN Red Data Book. 3rd edition, part 2. ICBP: Cambridge. 1,150 pp.

Hilty, S. L. (2003) Birds of Venezuela. Princeton University Press: Princeton NJ. 928 pp.

Jetz, W., Thomas, G.H., Joy, J.B., Redding, D.W., Hartmann, K., Mooers, A.O. (2014) Global distribution and conservation of evolutionary distinctness in birds. Current Biology. 

Krabbe, N.K. & Schulenberg, T.S. (2003) Family Formicariidae (ground-antbirds). Pp. 682-731 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.) Handbook of the birds of the world. Volume 8. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona. 845 pp.

Krabbe, N.K., Schulenberg, T.S. & Sharpe, C.J. (2013) Tachira Antpitta (Grallaria chthonia). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.) Handbook of the birds of the world alive. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona. Retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/56887 on 17 April 2014.

Lentino, M. & Esclasans, D. (2005) Áreas importantes para la conservación de las aves en Venezuela. Pp. 621-769 in: BirdLife International and Conservation International (eds.) Áreas importantes para la conservación de las aves en los Andes Tropicales (Serie de Conservación de BirdLife, No. 14). BirdLife International: Quito, Ecuador.

Paynter, R.A. (1982) Ornithological gazetteer of Venezuela. Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology: Cambridge, Mass. 245 pp.

Ridgely, R.S. & Tudor, G. (1994)  The birds of South America. Volume II: the suboscine passerines. University of Texas Press: Austin. 814pp.

Rodríguez, J.P., Rojas-Suárez, F. & Sharpe, C.J. (2004) Setting priorities for the conservation of Venezuela's threatened birds. Oryx 38(4): 373-382.

Sharpe, C.J. (2008) Aves. Pp. 116-157 in: Rodríguez, J.P. & Rojas-Suárez, F. eds. Libro Rojo de la fauna venezolana, 3rd edition. Provita & Shell Venezuela, S.A., Caracas, Venezuela. 364 pp. 

Sharpe, C.J. & Lentino, M. (2008) Hormiguero tororoi tachirense Grallaria chthonia. P. 144 in: Rodríguez, J.P. & Rojas-Suárez, F. eds. Libro Rojo de la fauna venezolana, 3rd edition. Provita & Shell Venezuela, S.A., Caracas, Venezuela. Available online as: Sharpe, C.J. & Lentino, M. (2013) Hormiguero tororoi tachirense Grallaria chthonia. WikiEVA: Especies Venezolanas Amenazadas.

Wetmore, A. & Phelps, W.H. (1956) Further additions to the list of birds of Venezuela. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 69: 1-10.

Recommended citation:-

Sharpe, C.J. (2014) Táchira Antpitta Grallaria chthonia on the EDGE: evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered. The Curious Naturalist. Downloaded from http://thecuriousnaturalist.blogspot.com/2014/04/tachira-antpitta-grallaria-chthonia-on.html on 28 October 2025.

Relax UK national parks legislation, advocates Defra Secretary Owen Paterson

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson's speech at the Conference of the Association of National Park Authorities was published today. I heard him discussing his views on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today. Using a perversion of the concept of biodiversity offsetting (since, by definition, national parks already are already offsetting  development elsewhere) Paterson advocates relaxing the UK's already weak protected area legislation to allow for the expansion of unspecified infrastructure.

We are working to reduce the unnecessary burdens that hold back rural business, not least our farmers. I see my role as getting out of people’s hair.

This is why I am particularly interested in Biodiversity Offsetting.

Offsetting gives us a chance to improve the way our planning system works. It gets round the long-running conundrum of how to grow the economy at the same time as improving the environment. It could provide real opportunities in our National Parks, where the necessary extension of a farm building could result in the enhancement of an existing habitat or the creation of a new one.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/owen-paterson-speech-to-national-parks-conference

Paterson is not known for his knowledge of environmental matters and publicly struggles with even the most basic concepts. It is not clear whether (as in his previous failure to grasp the evidence related to badger-culling, effects of neonicotinoids and climate change) he simply does not understand what national parks are or what biodiversity offsetting means, or whether (as with his rather more sinister role in raptor persecution or privatisation of the Forestry Commission) he is deliberately sabotaging the resources he is entrusted to protect. Merely incompetent or willfully negligent? In either case it is clear that he should now be removed from his post.