Assessment and conservation of grey-necked picathartes in south-east Nigeria

Fidelis Akunke Atuo

The grey-necked picathartes is restricted to the lower Guinea forests of Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The population of the species is already highly fragmented and most of the breeding colonies are small and declining due to habitat loss. An evaluation of the current conservation status of the species will be based on a re-assessment of 91 nest sites identified as part of a previous survey in 1987 together with extensive searches to locate possible new nest sites. Results from the survey will be used to provide an indication of the state of the region’s forests and the effectiveness of conservation efforts in recent years.