Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher – Some Positive News
Ten years ago, as part of our growing commitment to conservation, Viking Optical became the Birdlife International species champion providing much needed funding towards efforts to save the critically endangered Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher.
Birdlife partner Nature Seychelles and the Seychelles National Park Authority, supported by Viking Optical undertook an advocacy and education project as part of Birdlife’s Preventing Extinctions Programme.
Dr. Nirmal Shah, CEO of Nature Seychelles speaking in 2011, “Partnerships are crucial for conservation and have been used to save most of Seychelles endangered birds. The combined effort of conservation NGOs, government, businesses, and the community is probably the most powerful tool available to us to address conservation issue in Seychelles.”
At this time the species was classed as ‘critically endangered’ with the population almost entirely confined to La Digue island and numbering as few as 150-200 individuals.
The population has steadily increased since then with birds being successfully introduced to other parts of its former range. It is now estimated that there are 350-500 mature birds.
Birdlife recently reported “This heartening success is the result of years of hard work by Nature Seychelles and its collaborators. They established a nature reserve from scratch, together with an education centre and a large-scale public awareness campaign. This included a drive to set up water baths at schools and community centres, to help all birds survive the dry season. The flycatcher is still classed as Vulnerable, and much of its habitat is still threatened by development projects…” the work goes on.
Viking Optical – committed to wildlife and habitat conservation.
