Bare-headed rockfowl  (Picathartes gymnocephalus)

The low reproductive rate of this striking bird makes it particularly susceptible to the threats that face it and mean that its recovery rate is slow. Compounding the ecological pressures of nest-predation and competition from other birds, the bare-headed rockfowl is threatened by collecting for zoos, and by trapping with noose traps and wire snares. Human disturbance in Sierra Leone, and mining for gold, manganese and bauxite in Ghana have put pressure on the species, as has conversion of forests to farmland in Cameroon and Sierra Leone (3).

Although protected by law in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Cameroon, the legislation is ineffectual, prompting the creation of a Picathartes working group to promote research and conservation action, and to consider the potential for ecotourism based around such a striking and charismatic species (3). Following the rediscovery of the bare-headed rockfowl in Ghana by the British Ornithologist’s Club in 2003, the Ghana Wildlife Society began a project running population surveys in order to better understand the population size and range of this species. This study was funded with $19,300 awarded by the Critical Ecosystem Fund (CEPF) under its small grant program (5). Currently the Ghana Wildlife Division, the Nature Conservation Research Centre, and the Chief of Asumara are working to protect the species in Ghana’s nature reserves (4). A genetic study has been proposed to assess whether inbreeding is a further threat facing this small population (3). In 2008, volunteers from the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone, the University of Sierra Leone, and the government’s Forestry Division, with help from local communities, carried out a survey of the Western Area Peninsula Forest (WAPF) and discovered two new breeding colonies of the bare-headed rockfowl. The project also established a network of trained wardens in villages surrounding the WAPF reserve (6).