Socotra’s Belated Buzzard – The World’s Newest Bird

Although there are roughly 10,000 known bird species on the planet, the announcement of a new one is a comparatively rare event that sends major waves through the conservation establishment. After literally millions of “person-years” spent scrutinizing Earth’s biodiversity, discovering a bird is no mean feat, and formally describing and naming it can take years. So far in 2010, two birds have been scientifically described: in May, Fenwicks’ Antpitta (Grallaria fenwickorum) from Colombia, and last month Yemen’s Socotra Buzzard (Buteo socotraensis). The remarkable thing about the antpitta is that it was described without the standard practice of stuffing a specimen. Apart from photographs, the definitive physical evidence of this species is a selection of 14 feathers plucked from a live bird that are now safely ensconced in a Colombian museum. The Socotra Buzzard’s claim to fame is that with the publication of its description this June, it is technically the World’s newest bird, even though 111 years have elapsed since its “discovery.” This unusually long gap almost qualifies it for entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

So, what took so long?  Presumably, Socotris have known about their buzzards for millennia, although no early references have yet been located. Perhaps the ancients were too preoccupied with the Rukh and the Phoenix* to bother with the buzzard‡. The first specimen was collected in 1899 when H.O. Forbes and W. R. Ogilvie-Grant shot one at ‘Elhe’ (presumably Ilha). They managed to collect three additional specimens in spite of the fact that, as A.D. Forbes-Watson observed 65 years later, “[Buzzards] had a genius for being wary when one had a gun.” Two, including the one from Elhe, are preserved at the Natural History Museum in Tring where they were labeled as Buteo desertorum (an old name for the highly migratory Steppe Buzzard). The other two are kept in Liverpool’s National Museum and Gallery where they were labeled as B. brachypterus (Madagascar Buzzard). Clearly, the ornithologists of the day didn’t know what to make of the buzzards on Socotra.

In 1914, E. Hartet recognized that Socotra’s buzzards warranted closer scrutiny, but to truncate a lengthy narrative let us skip years of detail and jump to the recent past. Following the expedition of Ornithological Society of the Middle East (OSME) expedition to Socotra in 1993, Richard Porter and Guy Kirwan decided to take a serious look into the taxonomic status of the buzzards they saw there. More than 15 years of additional field work on behalf of BirdLife International, including observations by Yemeni ornithologists Dr. Omar Al-Saghier, Dr. Nadim Taleb, and Ahmed Said Suleiman contributed to the review. Genetic analysis conducted in 1998 by M. Clouet and M. Wink supported Porter and Kirwan’s conviction that it might be appropriate to treat the Socotra Buzzard as a distinct species. “The Taxonomic Status of the Socotra Buzzard,” a paper published by Porter and Kirwan in last month’s Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, sealed the issue.

The World’s newest bird is also one of the rarest with an estimated population of fewer than 250 breeding pairs. The population appears stable, but because of its restricted range and extremely low numbers Buteo socotraensis is considered vulnerable to extinction. The chief threat may be the theft of nestlings for the wildlife trade although buzzards in general have little value as hunting birds. This is particularly true of the Socotra Buzzard which has been observed feeding exclusively on reptiles and invertebrates, including a snake, a small lizard, locusts, a rather large centipede, and a caterpillar; hardly the type of prey that falconers dream of!

The Socotra Buzzard is not the only bird on the islands that conservationists are concerned about. Of the 217 bird species that have been reliably recorded from the Archipelago, 10 are endemic, 24 exist there in globally significant numbers, and thirteen are included on the IUCN Red Data List (i.e. are threatened with extinction). BirdLife International, the umbrella organization that monitors and conserves global avifauna through its network of partners and affiliates, like many stakeholders, is deeply worried about recent developments that jeopardize much of Socotra’s wildlife, including the buzzard.

As exciting as the announcement of any new bird species is, the fact is that more than 12 percent of the world’s birds are in danger of extinction. That is more than 1,200 different species and almost every decline can be attributed to human activity. Shortly before the world’s newest bird hit the press, BirdLife announced the World’s most recent avian extinction; Madagascar’s Alaotra Grebe has not been seen for more than 25 years because, scientists at BirdLife sadly conclude, the last one has perished. Last December I wrote about the global search for the Slender-billed Curlew, one of the World’s 47 species of “lost birds.” Since that article was published, not a single sighting has been confirmed and the Slender-billed Curlew, like the Aloatra Grebe, may be lost forever.

Buteo socotraensis seems to be holding its own, for now. However, its future, like the future of what was once called the “Isle of Bliss” is by no means secure. The breakdown of a traditional conservation culture, land-grabbing, population growth, invasive species, un-checked “development”, unsustainable fishing for sharks and sea cucumbers, poverty, and a measurable change of climate are just some of the threats that this UNESCO World Heritage Site is struggling to weather. It has taken 111 years to give Buteo socotraensis a proper name. Without effective protection, it may take far less time than that for us to lose it entirely.

*Legend has it that both the Rukh (aka Roc) and the Phoenix may have regularly visited Socotra.  The former laid house-sized eggs and could carry an elephant in its talons, while the latter would cyclically rise from its own ashes every 500 years.  Sadly, there are no recent records of either species and both are feared extinct.

In the context of this article “buzzard” means a hawk in the genus Buteo rather than the North American vernacular for “vulture.”  For North American readers, the familiar Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is technically a buzzard.

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