The future is looking brighter for the Seychelles white-eye -
one of the Seychelles' rarest birds 23 August 2005 | News story
IUCN - The World Conservation Union, Gland, Switzerland, 23
August 2005 - The last few years have seen a welcome turn around
in the fortunes of the Seychelles white-eye, thanks to the
success of the Seychelles white-eye Recovery Programme,
involving Dr Gérard Rocamora, a member of SSC’s Reintroduction
Specialist Group, other conservation organisations and local
partners. Reduced to a declining population of only a few dozen
known individuals on the island of Mahé as recently as the mid
1990s, the outlook for this small endemic bird seemed bleak. As
with so many island endemics, introduced alien species were
having a devastating impact and pushing the white-eye towards
extinction. Poor breeding success, due mainly to nest predation
by the agile tree-climbing black rat, was taking its toll. The
discovery of an additional 200 birds on Conception in 1997 was
an unexpected boost, but the lo