Protected birds are not all rare

Whenever a protected bird is shot in Malta, BirdLife Malta infallibly refers to any such bird as being rare. This has always confused anyone with the slightest knowledge of ornithology, since most of the birds mentioned are far from being rare. In fact most are considered so plentiful that their status is regarded as being of least concern.

The most trustworthy source for verifying the status of any species is the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) (www.iucnredlist.org). This site lists all species of bird, animal or plant and categorises their conservation status accordingly. It is worth noting that the data for all bird species is compiled by Birdlife International, of which BirdLife Malta is a partner.

The Lesser Spotted Eagle shot over Malta was named Sigmar after the German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel in order to provide a lever to encourage him to put direct pressure on the Maltese government ( http://lists.topica.com/lists/SavNature/read/message.html?mid=913944571&sort=d&start=718 ). The eagle was referred to as being rare. However, the IUCN listing for this bird is "a large global population estimated to be 80,000-110,000 individuals. The species is evaluated as Least Concern".

The Great White Egret shot recently at Salina was also referred to as another rare bird. But Great White Egrets are far from being rare. Their IUCN listing states "a large global population estimated to be 550,000-1,900,000 individuals. The species is evaluated as Least Concern".

So why does BirdLife Malta always claim that all protected birds are rare?

An online comment sent to The Times by a Birdlife Malta member explains this ornithological mystery: "You know that the species involved was the Great White Egret which is definitely rare here in Malta, so Birdlife are correct in saying so."

So all birds reported as being rare are not rare at all, but are only rare to Malta. Apart from confirming what hunters have always maintained, the scarcity of birds in Malta that elsewhere are numerous, this also confirms that, contrary to what BirdLife Malta asserts, Malta is well off the Central Mediterranean Bird Migratory Flyway. It also strengthens the hunters' arguments that due to Malta's particular bird migration, hunting regulations that automatically apply to all other EU states can never be considered suitable. Consequently the application of certain derogations is the only way of ensuring a satisfactory solution to Malta's hunters. Birdlife's efforts are directed at undermining these facts.

Emphasizing the "rarity" of protected birds and attributing Christian names to birds are just attempts to impress a gullible public. Birdlife Malta uses this form of reporting in order to deceive the public, government and the EU into believing that Malta's hunters are targeting some rare threatened species. The killing of a protected bird is a vile act that warrants the harshest of punishments. But equally vile is the intended manipulation of internationally recognised scientific fact in order to give importance to an island that has always been referred to by all expert ornithologists as being of little or no ornithological significance.