Rediscovery of the Critically Endangered Silvery Pigeon
The Critically Endangered Silvery Pigeon Columba argentina, a wide-ranging insular pigeon of small islands off Sumatra and Borneo, has not been definitely recorded for over 70 years. In October 2008, Mark Lee photographed an individual pigeon near Masokut Island in the Mentawai archipelago, Sumatra. Later comparison of his photographs with eight specimens of Silvery Pigeon, all collected pre-1950, and 20 specimens of Pied Imperial Pigeon Ducula bicolor (a very similar looking sympatric species) revealed that the images are the first of Silvery Pigeon in the wild and provide evidence for the species’ continued existence in the wild.

Lee, M.T., Li, Y.D. and Pin, O.T. (2009) A photographic record of Silvery Pigeon Columba argentinafrom the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia, with notes on identification, distribution and conservation. Bulletin of the British Ornithology Club 129(3): 123-128.

European Court of Justice decision on spring hunting in Malta
On September 10, the European Court of Justice (case C-76/08) declared that Malta had breached European law by allowing spring hunting of Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur and Common Quail Coturnix coturnix in the years 2004-2007. Joseph Mangion, BirdLife Malta’s President said he expects the Prime Minister of Malta to use this Court Ruling as an opportunity to now focus on clamping down on illegal hunting - which has tarnished Malta’s reputation over the years” (BirdLife 14.09.2009).

Wetar Ground-dove Project technical report published
In 2008 Columbidae Conservation ran a conservation project to the Indonesian Island of Wetar to assess the status of the Endangered Wetar Ground-dove Gallicolumba hoedtii and conduct biodiversity surveys. We found Wetar to support some of the most intact tropical forest and savanna landscapes in Asia and support the world’s best populations of the Endangered Wetar Ground-dove, the Endangered Timor Imperial Pigeon Ducula cineracea, and healthy populations of the islands' four Near Threatened endemic bird species. The apparent restriction of the Wetar Ground-dove to tropical forest associated with springs below about 250 m places this pigeon under threat. Tropical forest below 250 m is much less extensive (~3% of island area) than upland tropical forest. We identified a number of contemporaneous and future pressures facing the islands' wildlife, particularly from infrastructure development (particularly from road building schemes) and potential expansion or creation of new mining operations. The Bekau Huhun Nature Reserve in the west of Wetar covers a large area of high quality habitat. However, the boundary was drawn remotely and it excludes extensive high quality habitat including unsurveyed lowland forest. The results from our fieldwork suggest that the current Nature Reserve is unlikely to contain a substantial population of the Wetar Ground-dove.

Trainor, C.R, Imanuddin, Firmann, A, and Walker, J.S. (2009) The status and conservation of the Endangered Wetar Ground-dove (Gallicolumba hoedtii) and other wildlife on Wetar Island, Indonesia, 2008. Technical Report No. 1. Columbidae Conservation, Manchester, UK.

BirdLife launches quest launched to find 47 species of ‘extinct’ birds
BirdLife International is launching a global bid to try to confirm the continued existence of 47 species of bird that have not been seen for up to 184 years. The list includes four species of Critically Endangered columbid, three from Asia and one species from South America:

(BirdLife 21.08.2009)

The nest and eggs of Sapphire Quail-dove described
The New World genus Geotrygon includes 16 species of predominantly ground- foraging doves, with several restricted-range species being of conservation concern. Three nests of one of the least known species, the Sapphire Quail-dove Geotrygon saphirina, have been found and described; previously, no published information was available on the species' breeding biology. Nests were stick and rootlet platforms adjacent to small streams. The nesting records, in conjunction with this species’ previously noted predilection for shaded areas near streams, suggests riparian areas may be the preferred microhabitat of this species.

Greeney, H.F. and Gelis, R.A. (2009) The nest and eggs of Sapphire Quail-dove Geotrygon saphirina. Cotinga 31: 65-66.

Pigeons are key to the dispersal of the seeds of native trees in Australian subtropical forest fragments
Using published dietary information together with field surveys of frugivore abundance within intact forest, forest fragments and patches of regrowth, a team of Australian scientists have assessed the potential of frugivorous bird and bat species to disperse the seeds of plant species in fragmented rain forest in subtropical Australia. Five frugivore species with reduced abundance [tolerance] in fragmented rain forest, were the only known dispersers of 27 of the 221 native plant species in the data set (12% of species), three if these frugivores are fruit-dives: the Wompoo Fruit-dove Ptilinopus magnificus, Superb Fruit-dove Ptilinopus superbus and Rose-crowned Fruit-dove Ptilinopus regina. These frugivore species were also major dispersers of plant species producing fruits wider than 10 mm and species from the families Rubiaceae, Lauraceae, Myrtaceae, Meliaceae, Lamiaceae and Vitaceae. Except for Rubiaceae. Rain forest fragmentation has reduced the abundance of a suite of frugivorous rainforest fauna, particularly fruit-doves, which in turn is likely to reduce the dispersal of a certain plant taxa and may alter patterns of plant regeneration in subtropical Australian rain forest fragments.

Moran, C. (c.moran “at” griffith.edu.au), Catterall, C.P. and Kanowski, J. (2009) Reduced dispersal of native plant species as a consequence of the reduced abundance of frugivore species in fragmented rainforest. Biological Conservation 142: 541–552.