One of the world's rarest birds may no longer be facing extinction, thanks to creative conservation efforts.
One of the rarest birds in the world, the Wilkins' bunting, is a yellow finch endemic to Nightingale Island in the British Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha, a remote but inhabited archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean. As detailed by The Guardian, there was a shortage of the fruit of Tristan's only native tree, the Phylica arborea, which was the bird's only food source.
Around 2011, an invasive scale insect, likely introduced to the island by humans by accident, started to infest and weaken the trees by secreting honeydew, which boosts the growth of a smothering mould that eventually kills them. In addition, in 2019 two major storms destroyed a large portion of the island's forest at a time when only about 120 breeding pairs of the bird remained, per The Guardian.
Efforts to combat invasive species, whether they are insects or plants, are the daily lot of many conservationists.
To save the buntings, a handful of organizations — including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) — teamed up with Tristan da Cunha's government to introduce a small parasitic wasp, Microterys nietneri, which was successful in preventing the invasive insect from breeding without adversely affecting other species.
The wasps that survived the nearly month-long trip from London across land, sea, and air — fewer than 10% — were released in April 2021. Several more groups were brought onto Nightingale Island, and eventually, their number grew.
"It's not every day a tiny wasp crosses oceans to save a bird from extinction!" Chief Operating Officer at RSPB James Robinson wrote in a LinkedIn post earlier this month. "The Wilkins' bunting is being brought back from the brink," he added.
Wasps have also been used to combat an invasive species wreaking havoc on farms.
According to The Guardian, surveys in February showed that 60 to 90 pairs of Wilkins' buntings were still on the island despite losing nearly 80% of the forest. Scientists now expect their number to stabilize and recover over the next few years.
David Kinchin-Smith, project manager for RSPB's UK Overseas Territories, was quoted as saying: "This project shows what can be achieved in turning around the fate of a threatened species. Steely determination, ecological expertise and a large helping of luck have all contributed to the success of this work, but hopefully we, and the wasps, have given the buntings a much-needed lifeline."
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