This is a digest of messages posted to: Threatened Asian Birds.Indian Spotted Eagle (Aquila hastata): information requested.Message #1 Posted by: robertvanzalinge Date: Nov 11, 2009.In mid June 2009 a Spotted Eagle with immature plumage was found in a village in northern Kampong Thom province, Cambodia. DNA testing confirmed the bird to be an Indian Spotted Eagle, Aquila hastata. The eagle had been collected in May 2008 from a nest in nearby open deciduous forest. This is the first documented case of this species breeding in Cambodia. The species therefore appears to be a breeding resident in Kampong Thom province and potentially also in at least Preah Vihear and Stung Treng province, with several provisional sightings from these provinces, but with no records of breeding as yet. Little is known about the status and distribution of A. hastata in Cambodia. If it is a species of open deciduous forests it may be reasonably widespread, but as with many other species associated with this habitat it is likely to be declining in Cambodia due to large scale forest conversion, especially for cash crop plantations. The area where the eagle was found has since been converted into an acacia plantation for the production of paper pulp. We are now preparing a more detailed account of this first record of breeding Indian Spotted Eagle in Cambodia for publication. Robert van Zalinge - Wildlife Conservation Society, Cambodia Program Markus Handschuh - Angkor Center for Conservation of BiodiversityThreatened Asian BirdsPurple-naped Lory (Lorius domicella): uplist to Endangered?Initial MessageMessage #-1 Posted by: operations Date: Nov 11, 2009.Purple-naped Lory Lorius domicella is currently listed as Vulnerable under criterion C2 of the IUCN Red List because it is assumed to have a small population of fewer than 10,000 mature individuals that is declining. It is endemic to the islands of Seram, Ambon, and perhaps also Haruku and Saparua, South Maluku, Indonesia. It appears always to have been uncommon or rare, recent records deriving only from within Manusela National Park in central Seram, where it is scarce, and from the Wae Fufa catchment in the east, where it was fairly common on ridges between 900 and 1,050 m. There are unconfirmed local reports that it still survives above Hila on Ambon. The species has reportedly been very heavily trapped in recent years (J. Hornbuckle in litt. 2009) and it has become increasingly difficult to see with a decline in the number of sightings. On limited available evidence it seems plausible that the population has declined to fewer than 2,500 mature individuals and given the threats a continuing decline is likely. This would qualify the species as Endangered if all sub-populations support fewer than 250 mature individuals. Comments on the likely population size and structure, and its status on Ambon and elsewhere in South Maluku are invited to accurately assess this species’s status.
