Литагент HarperCollins - Bird Brain - Over 2,400 Questions to Test Your Bird Knowledge

Project name:BirdLife International Threatened Birds Programme

Birds that benefit:Blue-throated Macaw Ara glaucogularis (CR), Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea (CR), Whooping Crane Grus americana (EN)

Amount raised:£120,000 With one in eight bird species threatened with extinction, Birdfair funded research to gather up-to-date information on their populations, creating the landmark book Threatened Birds of the World . This sparked public and political awareness and established BirdLife as the avian authority for the IUCN Red List.

Year:1999

Project name:Rescuing Brazil’s Atlantic Forests

Birds that benefit:Seven-coloured Tanager Tangara fastuosa (VU), Alagoas Antwren Myrmotherula snowi (CR), Bahia Tyrannulet Phylloscartes beckeri (EN)

Amount raised:£130,000 43 of Brazil’s 103 threatened bird species depend on its dwindling Atlantic forests. The 1999 Birdfair project aimed to preserve them. Successes included Murici Forest being declared an Ecological Station. BirdLife’s activity in this country eventually led to the formation of the NGO SAVE Brazil, now a BirdLife partner.

Year:2000

Project name:Save the Albatross Campaign – Keeping the World’s Seabirds off the Hook

Birds that benefit:Seabirds including the Wandering Albatross Diomeda exulans (VU)

Amount raised:£122,000 Albatrosses are the most threatened group of seabird, and one of the biggest threats is death on the baited hooks of long-line fisheries. Birdfair funded the launch of the Global Seabird Programme, which paved the way for BirdLife’s highly successful Albatross Task Force.

Year:2001

Project name:Eastern Cuba – Saving a Unique Caribbean Wilderness

Birds that benefit:Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis (CR – possibly still present in Cuba), Bee Hummingbird Mellisuga helenae (NT)

Amount raised:£135,000 Cuba hosts 350 bird species, including the world’s smallest bird, the Bee Hummingbird (weighing only 2 grams). Birdfair funded vital research, providing field equipment and setting up Cuba’s IBA network, which went on to attract conservation funding for the whole Caribbean.

Year:2002

Project name:Saving the Last Lowland Rainforests in Sumatra

Birds that benefit:Red-naped Trogon Harpactes kasumba (NT)

Amount raised:£147,000 Birdfair funded the then newly formed BirdLife partner Burung Indonesia to identify priority areas of Sumatra’s dwindling lowland rainforest for protection. After intense lobbying, the government issued the very first forest restoration licence to preserve one such forest from logging and monoculture. This paved the way for BirdLife’s Harapan (‘hope’) Rainforest Project.

Year:2003

Project name:Saving Madagascar’s Fragile Wetlands

Birds that benefit:Madagascar Fish-eagle Haliaeetus vociferoides (CR), Sakalava Rail Zapornia olivieri (EN), Madagascar Heron Ardea humbloti (EN)

Amount raised:£157,000 The plight of Madagascar’s forests is well publicised, but its wetlands are also of huge conservation importance. This project engaged local people who use the wetlands, working with governments, communities and businesses to draw up legal agreements. These have now expanded into two Protected Areas.

Year:2004

Project name:Saving Northern Peru’s Dry Forests

Birds that benefit:White-winged Guan Penelope albipennis (CR), Marvelous Spatuletail Loddigesia mirabilis (EN), Long-whiskered Owlet Xenoglaux loweryi (EN)

Sandwiched between the Andes, the Sechura Desert and the Pacific Ocean, this isolated, enigmatic region is one of the top ten most biologically unique areas of the planet. Sadly, only 5% of its original range survives. Birdfair funded several successful, locally targeted community-based conservation projects.

Year:2005

Project name:Saving Gurney’s Pittas and their Forest Home

Birds that benefit:Gurney’s Pitta Pitta gurneyi (EN)

Amount raised:£200,000 For much of the last century, Gurney’s Pitta was thought to be lost. The discovery of a population several hundred strong in Myanmar’s lowland forests was a fantastic event – but also an urgent one, with the forest threatened by clearance for oil palm plantations. Despite political unrest in the area, Birdfair-funded fieldwork greatly advanced our understanding of this bird.

Year:2006

Project name:Saving the Pacific’s Parrots

Birds that benefit:New Caledonian Lorikeet Charmosyna diadema (CR), Rimatara Lorikeet Vini kuhlii (EN), Ouvea Parakeet Eunymphicus uvaeensis (EN)

Amount raised:£215,000 Islandbirds are at greater risk from extinction, especially from invasive species. Birdfair funded conservation across the Pacific region, focusing on six threatened parrot species. A major success involved Rima Lorikeets being reintroduced to their original home island of Aitu, where they now thrive.

Year:2007

Project name:BirdLife International Preventing Extinctions Programme (PEP)

Birds that benefit:Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis (CR), Djibouti Francolin Pternistis ochropectus (CR), Belding’s Yellowthroat Geothlypis beldingi (now VU)

Amount raised:£226,000 Birdfair helped to kick-start BirdLife’s ambitious initiative to prevent Critically Endangered birds from slipping away. A highly effective network linked Species Champions (companies, organisations or individuals providing vital funds to save a species) with Species Guardians (leading targeted action on the ground).

Year:2008

Project name:BirdLife International Preventing Extinctions Programme

Birds that benefit:Araripe Manakin Antilophia bokermanni (CR), Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarious (CR), Azores Bullfinch Pyrrhula murina (now VU)

Amount raised:£265,000 Building on the previous year’s success, a further six Critically Endangered birds were highlighted, and the search for Species Champions to ‘adopt’ them proved very successful. Birdwatch magazine devoted itself to the Azores Bullfinch, and Sir David Attenborough himself took on the Araripe Manakin.

Year:2009

Project name:BirdLife International PEP: ‘Lost and Found’

Birds that benefit:Fiji Petrel Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi (CR), Makira Moorhen Pareudiastes silvestris (CR)

Amount raised:£263,000 Birdfair funded the PEP to establish whether 15 ‘lost’ species survived in the wild – thus informing conservation decisions. A successful example was the search for the Fiji Petrel, which uncovered 8 individuals. The PEP programme has gone on to appoint 46 Species Guardians, protecting 59 Critically Endangered birds.

Year:2010

Project name:Southern Ethiopian Endemics

Birds that benefit:Liben Lark Heteromirafra archeri (CR), Ethiopian Bushcrow Zavattariornis stresemanni (EN), White-tailed Swallow Hirundo megaensis (VU)