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,n '" 11\"~Jji~ f I Socorro Dove Bird ,/ff"/~!~I"lf \' ., .", Eclectus Pet and Supplies Breeding/ Retailers - Parrots Release did you know that one -Grand Program of the most prestigious -Vosmaeri bird publications, -Red sided by Luis F. Baptista The Watchbird San Francisco, California is available for -Solomon resale in your store? • Young, weaned. unrelated Socorro Island, the largest of four pairs. socialized for pets islands that comprise the Revillagi and as breeders gedo Archipelago, is situated about Call or write for infonnation: • Occasional older pairs 240 miles south of the tip of Baja Cal and singles ifornia, Mexico. The island is approx American Federation of Aviculture imately nine miles on each side, and P.O. Box 56218 can (415) 372-6174 rises to 3700 feet at Mount Ever Phoenix, AZ 85079-6218 mann. Ten taxa comprise its landbird (602) 484-0931 or send SASE to: fauna, including four endemic spe cies and six endemic subspecies. The Laurella Desborough former includes one endemic genus, P.O. Box 2731 12 the Socorro Mockingbird (Mimodes Concord. California 94527 graysoni). In 1867, the noted wildlife artist AndrewJackson Grayson and his son Ned visited the island. On the 20th of May of that year ed returned from a morning of exploring and hunting exclaiming with the joy of discovery, "A new dove, a new dove!" Ned had discovered what we today know as Grayson's Dove or the Socorro Dove (Zenaida graysoni). The Socorro Dove is a striking species. It is a close relative of the Mourning Dove (z. macroura), but the former is about 40 percent heav ier than the latter species. It is ruddy brown in coloration with red feet and a red bill that is black near the tip. The tail feathers are grey at the apices and are squarer at the tip than those ofthe Mourning Dove. Typical of island species that have not experienced many predators, Socorro Doves are naturally tame. Dr. Sterling Bunnell Sr., a member of the California Academy of Sciences 1903 expedition to the island, records in his diary that upon seeing an approaching human" they immedi ately run to meet him and walk to within one meter to look at him sideways or fly to an adjacent limb." Dr. Bunnell actually walked up to a perching dove and touched its feet. Continued on page 14 afa WATCHBIRD 15 Alas, the inadvertent introduction ing a program to remove the sheep Marsh Farms ofsheep and cats to the island has led and cat populations on the island. to the extinction of this beautiful Once this is done, we can begin INCUBATORS dove in the wild somewhere reforesting the portion of the habitat between 1958 and 1978. Fortunately, on the southern slopes destroyed by • FEATURING fully automatic this beautiful dove still exists in sheep overgrazing. I estimate that it turners. Adjustable temperature and humidity control. aviaries. will be at least five years before the Dr. Sterling Bunnell Jr. (son of the first dove releases may take place. explorer above), a few friends and I Medical screening will ensure that founded the Island Endemics Founda only healthy doves will be repatri tion in 1990. This is a non-profit insti ated. A quarantine program will be tution dedicated to breeding and enforced to ensure that no pathogens eventually repatriating the Socorro alien to Socorro will be introduced. Dove to its ancestral home. The pro Part of this program will be a survey ject is in cooperation with avicultur of pathogens already established in ists in the U.S. and Germany, and the Socorro avifauna. Dr. James with Mexican wildlife agencies, Michael Harris, D.V.M., well-known namely SEDUE (Secretaria de Desar to many AFA members, is in charge ollo Urbano y Ecologia) and CIB ofthis program. (Centro de Investigacios Biologices). Aviaries will be constructed in Fifty pairs of Socorro Doves are selected sites in the highland forests being assembled in the Foundation's of Socorro Island to "soft-release" breeding centre in California. Ger Socorro Doves. This method has man and American aviculturists will been used successfully in a release act as reserves to ensure that not all program involving Mauritius Pink ROLL-X breeding stock is in one centre, and Pigeons (Columba mayeri]. Basi Up to 209 eggs. to furnish additional doves for cally aviaries will be constructed over release. groups of trees. Doves will be placed An annual census of doves in cap therein and provisioned. Meanwhile, tivity in the U.S. is being conducted they will also "learn" to feed on nat by John Pire of the Pigeon and Dove ural foods (fruit and seeds) proVided Society. A similar census is con by the trees in the aviary. Hatches in ducted in Germany by Dr. Gunther the aviary will be opened, but land Nogge of the Cologne Zoo, one of ing platforms with food dishes will the coordinators of the German be proVided, allowing birds to leave breeding consortium. In cooperation and return at will. Eventually, as with with Dr. Robin Lawson ofthe Califor the Pink Pigeon, it is hoped that they nia Academy of Sciences' biochemi will stay farther and farther away and cal systematics laboratory, a DNA become established. Doves will be fingerprinting study has been initi radio-tracked dUring the initial stages ated to determine the amount of of the release program. It is hoped inbreeding in captive stock, and to that at least 50 squabs a year from aid in selecting unrelated birds for our breeding centre and from private pairing. As all captives are probably breeders will be available for release. descended from very few ancestors it Annual releases will continue until is imperative that we assess the diver the species is re-established. sity in the captive gene pool. Stud We have every confidence of the books ofGennan and American birds success of this program. First, the will be kept to guide breeders in original habitat still exists and, once detennining optimal pairings. the feral animals are removed and Meanwhile, Dr. Hartmut Walter of with a minimum of management, we UCLA, several Mexican biologists, expect the habitat to revert back to Helen Horblit of Island Endemics and its primordial condition. Second, I have made regular trips to Socorro Socorro is an island ecosystem Island to census some of the other administered by the Mexican Navy endemic species to identify other who have provided their fullest MANUFACTURED BY taxa in need of immediate attention. cooperation. No development of the In one of these trips in 1989, we island is expected and plans are being found a small isolated population of implemented in cooperation with l-JPJjt~ the endemic Socorro Mockingbird, Mexican wildlife authorities to make once thought to be extinct. We have the island a nature reserve to pre 2765 MAIN STREET Dept. W CHULA VISTA, CA 92011 U.S.A. since found other small populations, serve its unique biota forever for pos TELEPHONE: (619) 585-9900 and plans are underway to bring terity. We look forward to the day some of these birds into captivity for when the hills and valleys of Socorro 1 a captive/release program. Island will once more be filled with WE ACCEPT 0 ~ Our Mexican colleagues are initiat- the haunting coos of Socorro Doves.• 16 December/January 1992.