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Bwindi Impenetrable Forest,
Uganda. Home of the Shelley’s crimsonwing. Photographer
Simon Espley.
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Contributions can be made to:
The Rare Finch Conservation Group. Nedbank, Account
number 1933 198885, SWIFT NEDSZAJJ Sandown Branch 193
305, South Africa. All contributors will be acknowledged
on the RFCG web site and in Africa Birds & Birding
magazine (official media sponsors to the project).
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The Shelley’s crimsonwing (Cryptospiza shelleyi) is
a finch that inhabits the dense highland rain forests of the
Albertine Rift in central Africa. This bird is classified
by Birdlife International in the IUCN Red Data List as vulnerable
(a high risk of extinction) but lack of data prohibits a more
accurate classification. Preliminary research conducted by
the Rare Finch Conservation Group www.rarefinch.co.za suggests
that this finch is in dire straights. RFCG has combined forces
with Wildlife Conservation Society www.wcs.org to research
the crimsonwing family and to design a conservation program.
We urgently need to raise funds to sponsor our planned Phase
3 field work up in Uganda. For more information on the project
please contact Eelco Meyjes at editor@avitalk.co.za
This Shelley's crimsonwing was trapped in February 2008
during a bird survey of Mount Tshiaberimu, an annex
of the Virunga National Park in DR Congo, by the Gorilla
Organization www.gorillas.org |
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