The white-necked Picathartes (“Obuor Anoma”), a globally threatened endemic bird that was near extinction, has resurfaced in Ghana after 40 years. However due to constraints of inadequate resources the search for more nests has come to a halt, Dr. Erasmus Owusu, Acting Executive Director of Ghana Wildlife Society (GWS), disclosed at a press briefing in Accra yesterday.
He said the distribution of the bird was highly fragmented and all known global population of the bird in the Upper Guinea Forest has less than 10,000 matured individuals, adding that the creature was vulnerable under Bird Life International Threat criteria.
He said a single species of the bird was sighted by a group of museum collectors from the USA at the Subin Forest Reserve in the Brong Ahafo-Region as a result of a follow-up search through the Subim Ayum Bonsam Forest Reserve by field research team of the GWS and the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission (WDFC).
Dr. Owusu said 13 active nests of the bird and two individuals were discovered, adding, “inadequate resources has made searching through the forest reserves to cover only 1% of the total area.”
He noted that the resurgence of the white-necked picathartes was great news to the nation because eco-tourism would be boosted since tourists and bird watchers all over the world were willing to pay huge foreign currency to catch a glimpse of the creature.
He said the distribution and population status of the of the species in the country was not known and therefore it was a matter of urgency that resources were mobilized to conduct a nationwide search of all potential habitats of the bird.
He said many species were under the brink of extinction and as such the African Species Working Group of the BirdLife International, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK), GWS in collaboration with the WDFC were developing an action plan that would see to the conservation of the species.
Dr.Owusu noted that since the main problem affecting the species was the loss of its primary habitat, the conservation action plan would ensure the protection of nesting sites of the bird, exclusion of logging and other extractive activities from within 100 metres of each nesting site and reserves.
The Species Action Plan would seek funds from individuals, NGOs, developmental agencies and corporate bodies outside the country and appealed to the Ministry of Lands and Forestry to help achieve this objective.
The white-necked Picathartes is a resident endemic bird of the Upper Guinea Forest, occurring only in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
In Ghana the species had until February 2003, not been seen after the last credible sightings in 1968 by L.G.Grimes. The striking appearance and strange behaviours of the species have generated considerable research and interest by bird watchers and museum collectors for years.
Its typical habitat is rocky hilly terrain in lowland forests up to 800 metres high with proximity to flowing waters. A forested area large enough to host swarms of ants is more likely to contain picathartes. Ghanaian Chronicle
