Mauritius Kestrels
Birds of Prey ... The Sport of Falconry
The Mauritius Kestrel (Falco punctatus) is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to Mauritius.
Description
It can reach a size between 26 and 30.5 cm. The weight is up to 250 grams. The males are slightly smaller than the females. The wing is approximately 45 cm. The lifespan is 15 years in captivity.
Threats and Conservation
The story of this bird is one of the most remarkable conservation stories. In pre-colonial time the population was estimated between 175 and 325 breeding pairs. This small population was caused most likely by the clearing of the forests in the 18th century and by cyclones. But the most severely decline was in the 1950s and 1960s by DDT using and invasive species like cats, mongooses and monkeys which killed the kestrels. The estimated population was dropped to an all-time low of only four individuals in 1974 and it was considered as rarest bird in the world.
Stanley Temple from the Cornell University studied this species for two years and the first attempt in 1973 to breed this birds in captivity failed because the hatchling died when the incubator had a break down. Though conservation measures were immediately undertaken with the help of a breeding programme by the Jersey Zoo the efforts to rescue this species have initially failed because the eggs were not fertile.
In 1979 a new attempt was undertaken. With the help of Gerald Durrell, the Welsh biologist Dr. Carl Jones established a wildlife sanctuary on Ile aux Aigrettes. He climbed on the trees and removed the eggs from the nests. This time the eggs were fertile and Carl Jones was able to rear the hatchlings in incubators. Fortunately the kestrels changed their breeding behaviour and for any removed egg a new egg was laid.
Slowly the population increased and in 1985 Dr. Jones was proud of the 50th. hatchling. Today there are about 800 individuals which are now occurring in the remained forests of their old habitat especially in the Black River Gorges region.
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