The Downside of Island Life

This colorful, tropical bird called the Tuamotu kingfisher lives on one tiny island Niau in the Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia, in the south Pacific. Today, just 125 of the birds exist, and scientists say they will go extinct without serious intervention.By working with farmers and residents on the island inhabited by the kingfishers, Dylan Kesler, at the University of Missouri s School of Natural Resources, has come up with factors critical to the birds survival. These include: hunting perches; clear ground so they can spot their primary food, lizards; dead trees for nesting; means for keeping predators away from