Hula Painted Frog has been rediscovered

It is always refreshing when there's a rediscovery and no more so then when it's an Amphibian which have been plagued by so many threats of late.

The story of the Hula Painted Frog Discoglossus nigriventer is a classic example of the destructive impact of man upon wetlands. The Hula Valley in Israel was once a thriving wetland and an important agricultural region. The area had several endemic vertebrates associated with it such as Acanthobrama hulensis, an endemic Carp and Tristramella intermedia, an endemic Cichlid as well as the Frog. Unfortunately the area was a major breeding ground for Mosquitoes and Malaria and in 1951 the Jewish National Fund began the drainage of the wetland which was completed by 1958. As a result populations of both fish quickly declined and were declared extinct.

What remains of the Hula Valley Wetlands

A small area was recreated however and became Israel's first nature reserve, despite this the area remained severely degraded and repeated searches failed to find any evidence of the frog and in 1996 it was offically declared extinct.

Until this year however when a single female was discovered on the 16th of November during a routine search and a second individual was found on the 29th. The population here must be tiny, but hopefully some serious conservation measures can now be implemented. There also remains the tantalising possibility that the species is hiding out somewhere in Lebanon following a possible sighting in 2000 in the Aammiq Marshes.

Below are some of the first pictures of the Frog by Sarig Gafny.

Imperial Woodpecker- Lest we forget

The Imperial Woodpecker Campephilus imperialis is (or was!) the largest known species of Woodpecker at a whopping 56-60cm. It is (or was!) endemic to the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains in northern Mexico. It is however now classed at Critically Endangered (possibly extinct) as there hasn't been a confirmed sighting since 1956.

It's an impressive bird with a jet black body, white wings and a white 'V' on the back and a call that apparently sounds like a toy trumpet. Both sexes are crested with the males' being blood red and the females' black. It's a close relative of the also ill fated Ivory-billed Woodpecker of the USA and Cuba.

Recently the Cornell Lab of Ornithology released the only known footage of Imperial Woodpeckers in a remote area of the Sierra Madre recorded by Dr William L. Rhein in the 50's.



Apparently it hasn't come to light before now as Rhein was embarrassed by the video quality! It's rather sobering to think that this may be the only footage ever taken of this amazing bird and that there may not be another opportunity ever again.

The thoughts of William Beebe spring to mind:

"The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living beings breathes no more, another heaven and another Earth must pass before such a one can be again."

Imperial Woodpecker factsheet: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=718