Orange Bellied Story

[arthur]

At least there is one possative in all this gloom. There are 20 times as many birds in captive breeding programs as there are in the wild. So the captive breeding programs sound as if they are doing something right.
LML

Could you elaborate on this a little please?

[MadHatter]

To my understanding, the major impact on the OBP population has come about through changed fire regimes to the buttongrass plains they rely apon during the breeding season. I believe under aboriginal custodianship, this habitat was regularly burned, resulting in a flush of fresh growth and seeding in the following season. Without these regular fires, the grasses seed less prolifically, and may over time become partially or entirely overgrown by scrubland. Unfortunately, due to the remote location and difficult terrain, I can understand that the authorities are reluctant to attempt controlled burns as it could too easily get out of controll and potentially wipe out all the prime breeding habitat that remains, as well as threaten other high-value habitats, not to mention human habitations and livelihoods.
I have it on good authority that the entire captive population is badly inbred, originating as it did from very few founders (not sure of the exact number, somewhere around 6 pairs I think). The low hatch rate in captivity can be fairly assumed to be entirely due to inbreeding depression. There are moves afoot to bring in fresh blood from the dwindling wild population before it is too late and there is a growing feeling among many, myself included, that we might be better off at this point to bring in all the remaining birds into the captive population.

[Diane]

that we might be better off at this point to bring in all the remaining birds into the captive population.

Im not saying whether this is right or wrong..just asking...doesn't that option come with its own set of problems? Or do the birds settle in captivity relatively easily?

[maz]

They took in 21 last year, the other problem with the captive population is unfortunately they all now carry PBFD , which although it doesn't seem to be effecting the birds would make the concept of getting experienced aviculturalists involved a bit more of a challenge, I'm not shore if any would be willing to take them on while they are known carriers.

[jusdeb]

It more than likely would BB . I kinda feel its a risk worth taking so long as the birds are placed with people who know what they are doing and not some dill climbing the beaurocratic ranks .

[finchbreeder]

"Could you elaborate on this a little please?"
Well it says there are 400 in 3 Captive breeding programs and 21 in captivity. So on those figures it would appear that the captive breeding program is making some progress towards increasing the numbers. Though the fact that they are taking young from the wild to add to the captive programs, could be distorting the numbers somewhat. And would at first glance seem POSSIBLY counter productive. Though if it is to dilute the inbreeding possibly not. And would putting some of the young of the captive stock into nests of wild birds work as a form of reintroduction into the wild. Don;t know just asking?
LML

[SamDavis]

And would putting some of the young of the captive stock into nests of wild birds work as a form of reintroduction into the wild. Don;t know just asking?

What an excellent idea. Why not prop up the wild numbers and add genetic diversity by adding extra captive bred chicks to wild nests. For example, say they locate a wild nest of 3, take 1 into captivity and then add an extra 2 or 3 from a captive nest. Works fine in an aviary situation so why not with these guys?
A further thought - the initial video implies they are monitoring pretty much all the wild nests (a maximum of 8 nests so no big deal really). Why not add cameras to all the wild nests so they can be monitored 24/7. If a chick dies or a predator kills chicks then immediately replace with captive bred chicks of the same age. They seem to have heaps of captive breeding pairs so this wouldn't be difficult to achieve and would maximise the number of wild birds.

[desertbirds]

They took in 21 last year, the other problem with the captive population is unfortunately they all now carry PBFD , which although it doesn't seem to be effecting the birds would make the concept of getting experienced aviculturalists involved a bit more of a challenge, I'm not shore if any would be willing to take them on while they are known carriers.

How did the entire captive population end up with PBFD ? This was a problem in the eighties with the intial birds caught. So did the 21 taken from the wild last year have PBFD ?
It would appear unless we have a remedy for the disease that the species is doomed. Why bring the rest in ? Might as well let them become extinct in peace if this is the case .

You cant put young from captive bred stock into wild nests if they all have PBFD

[SamDavis]

They took in 21 last year, the other problem with the captive population is unfortunately they all now carry PBFD , which although it doesn't seem to be effecting the birds would make the concept of getting experienced aviculturalists involved a bit more of a challenge, I'm not shore if any would be willing to take them on while they are known carriers.

How did the entire captive population end up with PBFD ? This was a problem in the eighties with the intial birds caught. So did the 21 taken from the wild last year have PBFD ?
It would appear unless we have a remedy for the disease that the species is doomed. Why bring the rest in ? Might as well let them become extinct in peace if this is the case .

You cant put young from captive bred stock into wild nests if they all have PBFD

Major major stuff up if all captive stock have PBFD particularly if they managed to infect the 21 taken last year - is this definitely the case? I know there are accurate tests for PBFD, but I recall reading there is a PBFD vaccine available or is it still being developed?

[maz]

Here it explains that pbfd has been persistent in the captive population since it's inception... http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au/images ... eb2011.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ...I think they mention that the 21 wild caughts were partially bought in to help with that as well as genetic diversity.... here is the report on the 21 individuals bought in http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au/images ... il2011.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I couldnt find out anything about where these 20 individuals are kept or bred but I would hope they are kept seperate from the rest of the population if PBFD is a persistent problem...and as you say if it isnt in the wild population then you would hope they dont release it.
What concerns me is in the video on the healseville site they talk about releasing 70 birds in total in 2009/ 2010.....that's a lot to release and yet the numbers seem to drop each year, after all these years of releasing stock what the hell is happening?