Forest Home
Birds that benefit: Gurney’s Pitta Pitta gurneyi (EN)
Amount raised: £200,000 For much of the last century, Gurney’s Pitta was thought to be lost. The discovery of a population several hundred strong in Myanmar’s lowland forests was a fantastic event – but also an urgent one, with the forest threatened by clearance for oil palm plantations. Despite political unrest in the area, Birdfair-funded fieldwork greatly advanced our understanding of this bird.
Year: 2006
Project name: Saving the Pacific’s Parrots
Birds that benefit: New Caledonian Lorikeet Charmosyna diadema (CR), Rimatara Lorikeet Vini kuhlii (EN), Ouvea Parakeet Eunymphicus uvaeensis (EN)
Amount raised: £215,000 Islandbirds are at greater risk from extinction, especially from invasive species. Birdfair funded conservation across the Pacific region, focusing on six threatened parrot species. A major success involved Rima Lorikeets being reintroduced to their original home island of Aitu, where they now thrive.
Year: 2007
Project name: BirdLife International Preventing Extinctions Programme (PEP)
Birds that benefit: Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis (CR), Djibouti Francolin Pternistis ochropectus (CR), Belding’s Yellowthroat Geothlypis beldingi (now VU)
Amount raised: £226,000 Birdfair helped to kick-start BirdLife’s ambitious initiative to prevent Critically Endangered birds from slipping away. A highly effective network linked Species Champions (companies, organisations or individuals providing vital funds to save a species) with Species Guardians (leading targeted action on the ground).
Year: 2008
Project name: BirdLife International Preventing Extinctions Programme
Birds that benefit: Araripe Manakin Antilophia bokermanni (CR), Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarious (CR), Azores Bullfinch Pyrrhula murina (now VU)
Amount raised: £265,000 Building on the previous year’s success, a further six Critically Endangered birds were highlighted, and the search for Species Champions to ‘adopt’ them proved very successful. Birdwatch magazine devoted itself to the Azores Bullfinch, and Sir David Attenborough himself took on the Araripe Manakin.
Year: 2009
Project name: BirdLife International PEP: ‘Lost and Found’
Birds that benefit: Fiji Petrel Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi (CR), Makira Moorhen Pareudiastes silvestris (CR)
Amount raised: £263,000 Birdfair funded the PEP to establish whether 15 ‘lost’ species survived in the wild – thus informing conservation decisions. A successful example was the search for the Fiji Petrel, which uncovered 8 individuals. The PEP programme has gone on to appoint 46 Species Guardians, protecting 59 Critically Endangered birds.
Year: 2010
Project name: Southern Ethiopian Endemics
Birds that benefit: Liben Lark Heteromirafra archeri (CR), Ethiopian Bushcrow Zavattariornis stresemanni (EN), White-tailed Swallow Hirundo megaensis (VU)
Amount raised: £243,000 Ethiopia’s endemic birds are increasingly threatened. Birdfair funded the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (BirdLife partner) to work with locals to preserve the Liben Lark’s tiny grassland range. Furthermore, Yavello Protected Area was upgraded to National Park status, aiding the White-tailed Swallow and Ethiopian Bushcrow.
Year: 2011
Project name: BirdLife International Flyways Programme – African–Eurasian Flyway
Birds that benefit: Eurasian Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos, European Turtledove Streptopelia turtur (Now VU)
Amount raised: £227,000 In the first year of Birdfair support for BirdLife’s Flyways Programme, the project focused on well-known birds breeding in Europe but overwintering in sub-Saharan Africa. Birdfair helped the Ghana Wildlife Society to raise awareness, and a new flyway action plan was spearheaded by the Ghanaian government.
Year: 2012
Project name: BirdLife International Flyways Programme – East Asia–Australasian Flyway
Birds that benefit: Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea (CR), Spotted Greenshank Tringa guttifer (EN), Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor (EN)
Amount raised: £200,000 This year’s project empowered partners across East Asia to protect key wetlands, used by 50 million migratory waterbirds but encroached upon by human expansion. The Gulf of Martaban in Myanmar – used by half of all Spoon-billed Sandpipers – was declared a Ramsar site.
Year: 2013
Project name: BirdLife International Flyways Programme – Americas Flyway (Prairies to Pampas)
Birds that benefit: Bobolink Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Swainson’s Hawk Buteo swainsoni, Buff-breasted Sandpiper Calidris subruficollis (now NT)
Amount raised: £270,000 Across the Americas’ grasslands, traditional ranching is giving way to intensive livestock rearing. Birdfair 2013 focused on supporting partners in South America’s Southern Cone, with initiatives such as ‘bird-friendly’ beef certification, and protecting sites of importance for grassland-dependent birds.
Year: 2014
Project name: Saving the Seas and Oceans
Birds that benefit: Macaroni Penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus, Audouin’s Gull Larus audouinii, Pycroft’s petrel Pteodroma pycrofti
Amount raised: £280,000 Oceans cover 70 percent of the earth’s surface, yet conservation actions for marine areas lag far behind those for other environments. Birdfair funded efforts by BirdLife partners’ policy staff looking to increase marine conservation. The project was based in Europe and Africa but also included efforts to protect Antarctica and the High Seas.
Year: 2015
Project name: Protecting Migratory Birds in the Eastern Mediterranean
Birds that benefit: White stork Ciconia ciconia, Red Knot Calidris canutus, Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
Amount raised: £320,000 Roughly 25 million migratory birds are killed illegally each year as they cross the Mediterranean. In order to combat this problem, BirdLife International worked to reduce the scale and impact of the illegal killing by advocating
