Kuvojo, an endemic Choi ground pigeon
Submitted by Moffat Mamu on 7 November, 2005 - 4:45pm. Private View
By PATRICK PIKACHA
IT was interesting to read the article by Mr Pitabelama entitled ‘The meaning of Kuvojo,” in Solomon Star online date 30 October, 2005.
Firstly I do not want to debate in any football talk – I am not a football fan.
However, I just want to help clarify some fair ignorance on the bird kuvojo.
Kuvojo or kukuvojo as some languages on Choiseul have it refers to the endemic Choiseul ground pigeon (Microgoura meeki).
It is a ground bird, found only on Choiseul Island and no where else in the world.
The bird belongs to the family Columbidae and is only known from six skins and an egg collected in the early part of last century.
It was last sighted in 1904 and regardless of searching and interviews with villagers it remains unknown and possibly extinct.
The International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and bird authority Birdlife International both classify Kuvojo or Choiseul Pigeon as extinct.
The birds said extinction has been due to predation by invasive mammals such as cats, dogs, and rats; and possibly by hunting in the early part of last century.
With a dark mottled undersides, and crown of feathers extended above and reach behind it’s head, experts have considered this bird as one of the most spectacular ground pigeons in Melanesia.
In recent surveys on Choiseul Island, local villagers above the Kolombangara River have described sighting a ground bird with similar external characteristics to me.
Some indigenous informants on Choiseul have confirm hearing the birds call in the deep recesses of the mountains, and through the Lauru Indigenous Resource Owners Association (LINRAO) I have heard of sightings of this bird at Oliveti Village, Choiseul’s most interior village.
Although all these rhetoric are unconfirmed as none of us have ever seen this bird, nor been able to photograph it to confirm its existence.
Today, industrial logging on Choiseul Island threatening more species including perhaps the last chance of survival of this bird, if it is still extant in the remote montane forests around Mt Maetambe.
Other threats to terrestrial biodiversity on Choiseul Island include deforestation to make for gardens, opportunistic hunting, and the live pet trade in birds – particularly of hornbills.
The later is illegal and owing entirely to logging and unmonitored trade in birds for VCRs and other electrical appliances.
Kuvojo is unique to Choiseul Island, and rightly the symbol of identity for Choiseul islanders, and suitably placed on its flag.
Although to have a dead and extinct symbol is really to have no symbol at all.
Let us hope for the sake of posterity that kuvojo is still surviving somewhere in the deep remote forests of Choiseul Island.
And as responsible stewards of the Choiseul environment we must work to conserve our natural heritage.
As someone once wrote “It’s the flock, the grove, that matters. Our responsibility is to species, not to specimens; to communities, not to individuals.”
Hence any reports pertaining to these birds presence around Choiseul Island is greatly appreciated.
* Patrick Pikacha is a Masters student at USP, Fiji, majoring in Geography. He is part Choiseul and Marovo.
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