Group sues Bush over bird

Earthjustice, representing the Center for Biological Diversity, filed suit in federal district court Friday against the Bush administration for violating the federal Endangered Species Act by refusing to establish protected “critical habitat” areas for the endangered Rota bridled white-eye, a forest bird found only on the western Pacific island of Rota in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

“The Rota bridled white-eye is a stunning example of the Department of Interior’s systematic failure to comply with the Endangered Species Act,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The white-eye declined by 90 percent while the government twiddled its thumbs and worried about politics for 24 years. Now the white-eye is at death’s door and the Bush administration is refusing to protect its habitat.”

Conservation groups petitioned the Department of Interior to put the white-eye on the endangered list in 1980. The Department of Interior agreed that the species was declining and, in 1982, with 10,763 birds left in the wild, identified the white-eye as a candidate for listing. The species continued to decline unprotected for over two decades until Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity secured a series of court orders forcing the Bush administration finally to list it as an endangered species.

By the time the white-eye was listed as endangered in January 2004, its numbers had declined 90 percent, to just 1,092 birds. In the final listing rule, the Bush administration identified habitat loss and degradation as primary causes of the species’ dramatic decline. Nonetheless, it refused to map out and protect “critical habitat” areas as required by the Endangered Species Act.

“Without critical habitat in place, there is no way to ensure that the federal government won’t destroy the forest habitat the Rota bridled white-eye needs to avoid extinction,” explained Earthjustice attorney David Henkin. “That’s why Congress insisted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designate critical habitat at the same time a species is listed as endangered. The Service’s refusal to protect the Rota bridled white-eye’s critical habitat illegally undermines a fundamental goal of the Endangered Species Act: to protect the ecosystems on which endangered species depend for their continued survival and eventual recovery.”

The Rota bridled white-eye—a small forest bird with a distinctive ring of white feathers around its eyes—exists only on the island of Rota.

Population estimates for the Rota bridled white-eye have declined dramatically since the early 1980s, when they numbered almost 11,000 birds. Today, fewer than 1,200 birds probably remain on Rota, an 89-percent decline. Once numerous and found at low elevations on the island, current Rota bridled white-eye populations are concentrated in four areas of the island in old-growth native limestone forests more than 200 meters (650 feet) in elevation.

The Rota bridled white-eye is a small (approximately 10 centimeters or 4 inches) yellowish bird with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. Average weight of the bird is about 9 grams (one- third of an ounce). The species feeds primarily on insects and often is found in small flocks of five to seven birds. Its closest relatives are the Guam bridled white-eye, which is believed to be extinct, and the Saipan bridled white-eye, which is relatively abundant on Saipan, Tinian, and Aguiguan.

Exact causes for the sharp decline in Rota bridled white-eye populations are unknown. Possible factors contributing toward the decline include degradation or loss of habitat due to development, agricultural activities, and naturally occurring events such as typhoons; avian disease; predation by rats and black drongos (an introduced bird species from Taiwan); and use of pesticides.

The Rota bridled white-eye was listed as threatened and endangered by the CNMI government in 1991.

The proposed listing of the species was delayed when the Service announced in November 2000 that it would be unable to list any new species in Fiscal Year 2001 because virtually its entire listing budget was being used to comply with court orders and settlement agreements, which primarily involved the designation of critical habitat for species already listed under the Act. Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced an agreement with a variety of plaintiffs that would free up funds to list the Rota bridled white-eye and other species.