Masaduera Rayadito (Aphrastura masafuerae)

Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 182519121

Castaway Conservation: Saving the Critically Endangered Masafuera Rayadito

The Masafuera Rayadito program seeks to understand the natural history and breeding biology of the species, and to conduct concrete actions to improve its habitat and mitigate threats. These objectives are achieved through the installation and monitoring of predator-proof nest boxes and invasive plant control in critical habitat.

OBJECTIVE 1: Improve nesting habitat for rayadito through the vetted predator-proof artificial nest boxes. Activities include monitoring the existing nest boxes in the zones where rayaditos are frequently observed, and relocating 20 boxes from the northern sector to the higher altitude southern area. This hotspot region was identified recently as a high-use area through acoustic monitoring via SongMeter.

OBJECTIVE 2. Control invasive plants in priority sites for rayadito. We will apply protocols developed previously for the Juan Fernández Firecrown to the neighboring island for the rayadito. The objective is to restore the endemic forest habitat to improve nesting and foraging opportunities for the species through invasive plant control. We will employ established and validated chemical and manual treatments to an area of approximately 10 hectares in targeted plots of high conservation value.