Zoo News: Buffalo Zoo’s Dr. Kurt Volle discusses recent conservation work aimed at saving bird species on Pacific island

By Adam Gorski

The Buffalo Zoo has long been committed to its global conservation effort, and an integral member of our veterinary team exemplified that philosophy last month.

The Zoo’s staff veterinarian, Dr. Kurt Volle, embarked on a trip to Rota, one of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean just north of Guam, where he worked as a field veterinarian for a conservation project that is making a significant effort to save a critically endangered bird.

“This (work) embodies why many of us get into this profession to begin with,” Dr. Volle said. “This (project) gives us a chance to truly make a difference.”

This particular project headed up by the Pacific Bird Conservation organization seeks to help save the Nosa’ Luta, also known as the Rota white-eye. The bird is found only in a certain part of Rota, which has a total population of just under 2,000 people. With the bird’s status in the wild, the goal of the project is to create an assurance population outside of the area where it faces habitat loss and the risk of invasive predators.

“The Rota white-eye is found nowhere else on Earth but this island,” Dr. Volle said. “There are other white-eyes that exist, but this is the only one that is this particular species (Zosterops rotensis).”

By translocating the birds to a different part of the island that is less populated, or possibly another, unpopulated island, it would give the species a chance to grow its own population and, ideally, drop its endangered status.

A crew comprised of animal experts from zoos around the United States, including the Saint Louis Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo and Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, descended upon Rota for roughly two weeks. They centered their efforts on learning more about the species and how translocating this particular bird would work. The knowledge gained from this project can help deal with similar situations both on Rota and around the world.

It was Dr. Volle’s first time taking part in this conservation project, and he was the lone representative from the Buffalo Zoo. He said he’d been aware of the group and knew several of the team’s veterinarians for a long time, but it wasn’t until a conversation with the group’s veterinary director about Dr. Volle’s unique skillset that an opportunity to participate arose. Thanks to his experience working at bird banding stations in Western New York, working with birds in veterinary medicine and his lengthy tenure at the Buffalo Zoo, he was an ideal pick to be out in the field working alongside one of the PBC’s founders.

The work involved with this project focused on simulating translocation conditions for the species.

After capturing Rota white-eyes using mist nets, which are widely considered one of the safest ways to study birds, the crew worked to get them into transport containers. This process is far from easy, but necessary in order to collect data on the birds.

After that, the birds were taken back to the crew’s bird room, where they were fed, ensuring that this interim diet would be suitable for them to maintain their body weight and health over a roughly two-week time period. Additionally, the birds received physical examinations from veterinarians and biological samples were taken to help determine their gender and overall genetic makeup, as well as if they are suitable for translocation. The birds were then released back into the wild.

“We were testing techniques,” Dr. Volle said. “Can we repeat this? Can we do this effectively? Can we identify and predict their typical daily movements through the limestone forest? These are very smart birds.”

The weather was often a challenge for the team, with high winds and rain leading to difficulties out in the field. Despite this, the crew was still able to study and collect samples on 33 birds, a major increase from the previous year’s total of 12.

Additionally, the team was able to interact with the Rota community, organizing a booth one day that helped educate the local people on the work they were doing. Students from a high school on the island also came out to observe the field work, with the hope that they can one day lead these projects. Conservation projects are generally more successful when people who live in the community are engaged with the work.

While this year’s focus was on the Rota white-eye, the PBC has conducted similar projects on various bird species that are native to just Rota, including the Rufus fantail and Mariana fruit dove. It makes for an overarching mission with a common goal: to save these species from extinction.

“This one little bird is critically endangered, and is very important, but it’s for so much more,” Dr. Volle said. “It’s for other birds along the Marianas chain, but also in islands throughout the Pacific. This particular stage was more of an experiment to see can we successfully do this? Because next time around, it’s going to be can we move them to another part of the island that is away from habitat loss?”

You can learn more about Pacific Bird Conservation here.