La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Important Bird Areas Henderson Island
Auteurs :	Michael Brooke, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	British Birds (103(8) AUG 2010)
Article en page(s) :	428-444
Résumé :	Subtropical Henderson Island is one of the Pitcairn Islands in the central South Pacific. Although over 600 years of Polynesian occupation have left an ecological mark, not least the continuing presence of Polynesian Rats Rattus exulans, the 37-km(2) island is the Pacific's best example of an ecologically intact raised coral island. For this reason it was designated a World Heritage Site in 1988. Four landbirds occur, all endemic to the island, of which the most distinctive is the flightless Henderson Crake Porzana atra. The others are a lorikeet, a fruit dove and a warbler. Seabirds abound. These comprise a mix of widespread tropical species such as boobies and noddies, and species with more restricted Pacific distributions, notably Pterodroma petrels. For one of these, the Henderson Petrel P. atrata, Henderson is the only known nesting station. However, fieldwork has established that the rats are devastating predators of petrel chicks. To benefit petrels and to achieve wider ecosystem restoration, rat eradication is now being actively planned. If successful, it would be easily the largest rat eradication achieved on British territory.

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