23/02/96
Dear
Bill
Re
Jungle Fowl
I
enclose a copy o f a letter received in response to my queries.
Tanya
Leary wrote the state of the environment report for the SI Government
recently.
Hers’
is the most recent info I can find re Jungle Fowl in the SI. Also enclose a
copy of the relevant pages from my SI Hand book.
Temotu
province certainly seems the place to go.
I
am also continuing to enquire with my friends on New Georgia.
Best wishes
Mr
Russell Parker
PO Box 242
Tenterfield,
NSW 2372
Australia
2nd
February 1996
Dear
Russell,
I
apologise for not replying sooner, but I have been on break, and then this
past week doing field work.
I
was surprised that your friend had difficulty locating parrots in Solomon
Islands, with the exception of a few of the rarer parrots most of the Solomon
Island parrots are pretty common, in areas which have not been logged. The
major threat to birds and in fact all fauna and flora in Solomon Islands is
industrial scale clear fell logging, which since I left Solomons appears to be
accelerating at an extremely fast rate. To my knowledge, parrots were not
particularly sought after by Solomon Islanders for food, although people will
eat anything when they are in the bush. They are however commonly kept as pets
by villagers. On the other hand a number of common species of pigeon and
ground dove are particularly sought after for meat, although I really don't
know whether or not this constitutes a threat to any species. Unlike here in
PNG, Solomon Islanders are not particularly serious hunters (predominantly
pigs and pigeons), most people having access to fairly abundant marine
resources. However, I suspect this could change as the population pressure on
inshore fisheries increases.
I
am aware of wild domestic fowl only on Santa Cruz (Nendo) in Temotu Province.
I have only ever seen one, and it was a large, very glossy black individual
with quite large tail feathers, I saw this near a village (who's name I
forget) on the southern side of Nendo. The village faces the small island of
Temotu Noi (also known as Lord Howe, not to be confused with Lord Howe in
Ontong Java). They are reportedly quite common however over much of Nendo
Island. Local legend has it that these are escapees from Elvira Mendana's
days. I vaguely remember something about some one looking at the genetics of
this stock or wanting to look at the genetics of this stock, and looking at
it's relationship with some 16th Century Castillian stock. But I really can’t
remember the full story. TI was also told that there may be wild domestic fowl
on New Georgia, but I did a lot of field work on this island and never saw
one.
I
am afraid that this is about all the information I can give you in response to
your queries. I hope it is of some use. I wish you well with your poultry
endeavours and in locating wild populations of fowls.
Kind
regards,
Tanya
Leary
Kikori Integrated Conservation and Development Project.
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