Will spring shooting be banned on Cyprus?
After a successful campaign led by BirdLife International and BirdLife Cyprus, the Cypriot Government has decided to stop the shooting of birds during the month of May on the island. Prior to the new law, hunting was allowed in 2008 for eight days in May to control crows – particularly Carrion Crow Corvus corone and Black-billed Magpie Pica pica. This initiative was then seen as an excuse to allow hunters to also shoot migratory species like European Turtle-doves Streptopelia turtur. However, this year the ‘corvid control decree’ has been reduced to just three days in June when the risk to migratory species is deemed to be low (BirdLife 19.05.2009).

2009 Red list update - only one columbid reclassified
There was only one change among Columbidae in the 2009 evaluation of the status of the world’s birds. This was a down-listing of the Tanna Fruit-dove Ptilinopus tannensis from Near Threatened to Least concern. The species, which is endemic to Vanuatu in the Solomon Islands, is quite tolerant of habitat degradation. Although it may be undergoing slow declines to due a loss of suitable large trees it remains very common at all habitats and altitudes across its range, including urban areas. As a result, it does not appear to approach the thresholds for classification as Threatened.

Across all bird bird species; however, the outcome of the 2009 revisions is that more species than ever are threatened with extinction - 1,227 species (12%) are now classified as Globally Threatened and 192 species as Critically Endangered, the highest threat category, a total of two more than in the 2008 update (BirdLife 14.05.2009).