Objectives

Test and disseminate innovative management techniques

• In Réunion, the cuckoo shrike or tuit-tuit, as it is known in Creole, is a threatened passerine. To save this species, a method for large scale control of rats will be tested and applied in the Roche-Écrite Nature Reserve, located in the National Park.

• The Réunion harrier, the only bird of prey on Réunion Island, is globally threatened and an endemic species. It falls victim to aerial cables, poisoning and poaching. Equipment and preventive procedures will be designed with the socio-economic stakeholders involved and standardized volunteer patrols set up to recover wounded birds and increase their survival rate.

Réunion cuckooshrike, tuit-tuit, Yabalex

• The dry savannas of French Guiana cover less than 2% of the territory. Largely unstudied but very rich in biodiversity, they are host to a specific suite of bird species such as the bearded tachuri. Experiments will be carried out on techniques to manage invasive flora, slash and burn practices and reclamation following agricultural use. Developing the ecotourism value of savannas will also be tested.

Protect the sites and habitats of endangered species while developing socio-economic activities

• In French Guiana, the Guianan cock-of-the- rock, emblematic of the mountain forests of the Guianas region, is threatened by mining and forestry activities and uncontrolled visiting of certain breeding caves. As part of an extensive process to gain more knowledge on the species and in consultation with the businesses and institutions involved, access to the most exposed caves will be restricted and certain sites classified as non-exploitable. Bird-watching tourism activities will be adapted and supervised through training and trail planning.

Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock, French Guiana, M. Dechelle

• French Guiana is host to the world’s largest known colony of agami herons. In order to develop the first conservation plan for the species, its feeding and wintering grounds, which today are completely unknown, will be located using Argos transmitters.

• In Martinique, a high-tech method combining electronics and GIS technology will be applied to demarcate and then restore the hotspots hosting the last pairs of white-breasted thrashers, a globally threatened endemic species, on the Caravelle peninsula, including the Caravelle Nature Reserve (managed by the Regional Nature Park).

Develop new tools to monitor, evaluate and take into account the avifauna of these territories

• In Réunion and in French Guiana, an assessment of the status of sites of national interest for avifauna located outside existing protected areas will be carried out to better take into account avifauna in territorial planning.

Ariane de Linné, French Guiana, M. Giraud-Audine

• The STOC EPS monitoring protocol for common birds, which is an indicator of biodiversity status, will be adapted and put in place in Réunion, French Guiana and Martinique, in partnership with the regional environmental authorities (DREAL) and the CRBPO (Center for Research Biology of Bird Populations). A tool for monitoring and evaluating the conservation status of biodiversity will thus be operational, as recommended by the European Bird Census Council (EBCC).

• An ornithological data base for entering, reporting and analyzing data on line will be designed for each territory, with access via a joint portal. It will represent a completely new tool to study, monitor and take into account avifauna in territorial planning.

Since the aim is to extend and replicate these actions in other French overseas entities at the end of the project, an interactive, dynamic website, technical guides and brochures, two seminars, an exhibit, a scientific poster kit and a symposium will be developed and organized in French, English and Spanish.