Atlas of Rare Birds by Dominic Couzens

Dominic Couzens tells the stories of 50 of the rarest birds in the world
  
  


Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review :
Atlas of Rare Birds, written by Dominic Couzens and published by New Holland Publishers Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : Gurney’s pitta
Gurney’s pitta: the author Couzens calls this the ‘unwitting star of a conservation soap-opera’. Once considered extinct, a moderate population still survives in parts of Burma Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : crested ibis
Back from the brink: perhaps the most famous of Asia’s rarities, the crested ibis has teetered on the brink of extinction for decades. But co-operation between China and Japan to protect and encourage breeding has boosted its numbers. The crested ibis uses its long, curved bill to probe in marshy areas for fish, frogs, molluscs and insects Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : Floreana mockingbirds
Although there is only one bird in this picture, other Floreana mockingbirds won’t be far away. All individuals live in permanent social groups. The climate of the Galapagos Islands where they live is steadily becoming drier and this is thought to be a factor in their decline Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : Junin grebe
The plumes around the ear-coverts of this Junin grebe indicate that it is in breeding plumage. The species is found only on a single lake in central Peru Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : Bali myna
Bit of a dasher: the Bali myna has long been admired in the cage-bird trade for its good looks and pleasing voice. Now protected by the Indonesian government, they are guarded in a national park in Bali Barat against black market hunters. In 2006, 37 birds were also released into a sanctuary in Nusa Penida, an island off the south-east coast of Bali Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : houbara bustard
Love is blind: having feathers in front of your face is awkward for a display posture, meaning that an excited houbara bustard can often run into obstacles. Like a miniature ostrich, it picks seeds, grasshoppers and locusts from the arid earth of north Africa and the Canary Islands Photograph: Bill Baston/Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : The aquatic warbler
The aquatic warbler is a small, brown, streaky bird that breeds mostly in eastern Europe. It is exceptionally fussy in its habitat requirements, which must be rich in insects. The secret location of the bird’s wintering grounds in Senegal was only recently discovered Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : White-rumped vultures
White-rumped vultures were once a familiar sight in the cities of southern Asia, with a population numbering millions, but its numbers plummeted fast in the 1990s. It was discovered that an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat injured cattle was to blame. When the cattle died, the vultures would ingest the drug and suffer a slow, painful death Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : The regent honeyeater
The regent honeyeater once inhabited just about every vegetated area of Australia but suffers even from subtle changes to its habitat. It likes rich, moist forest, particularly dominated by eucalypts called ironbark and box. The bird is now regularly seen in only four widely scattered locations Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book review: Lesser Flamingo
This is the lesser flamingo of the African Rift Valley Lakes, that crowds in its millions and turns the water pink from the air. But safety in numbers does not mean a species is invulnerable. Flamingos live in extreme habitats – alkaline or saline lakes in oppressively hot places that are inhospitable to most other life. This protects them from competitor species and predators. But the concentration of numbers in any one place means any threat to their habitat would send the population into freefall Photograph: davidtipling.com/Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : The Philippine eagle
The Philippine eagle could be one of the first big flagship species to be driven to extinction by deforestation, Couzens says. The eagle is entirely dependent on pristine forest dominated by large trees, but logging, slash-and-burn agriculture and mining have reduced suitable habitat and food sources. The species breed only once every two years, and the remaining population is fragmented over the four islands, hampering conservation efforts Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : spatuletail hummingbird
A species of hummingbird, the marvellous spatuletail generates its own ecotourism industry, attracting ornithologists to a remote part of northern Peru. The bird has very specific habitat requirements: rich montane forest exploding with exotic blooms at hight altitudes. But the population – currently listed at less than 1,000 – is under threat as forest clearance, partly for cash crops, continues. A recent study found that local people often kill the male spatuletails in the belief that the little bird’s hearts will boost their owners' sexual allure Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : The white-eyed river martin
The white-eyed river martin is one of the enigmas of Asian ornithology. It mysteriously appeared on a lake in central Thailand. No one knows where it came from or its current whereabouts. With its large white eyes, narrow tail streamers and velvety plumage, nothing like it had ever been seen before. But a few years later it suddenly disppeared, and despite rumours of sightings, none have been officially recorded Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
Atlas of Rare Birds: Book Review : long-whiskered owlet
The tangled and inaccessible forest of the Peruvian Andes meant the long-whiskered owlet was not discovered until 1976. It was another 31 years until the first photographs were taken, and in between there were only a handful of sightings. While the remote habitat has protected the bird from deforestation and degradation, virtually nothing is known about what it eats or how it might breed, and so it is impossible to assess its conservation needs Photograph: Atlas of Rare Birds/New Holland Publishers
 

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