Bourne's heron (''Ardea purpurea bournei''), also known as the Cape Verde heron, Cape Verde purple heron or Santiago heron, or locally in

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

as the ''garça vermelha'', is an endangered subspecies of the purple heron that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the Cape Verde

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

, in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

off the coast of

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

. It is sometimes considered a full species, ''Ardea bournei''.

History

This heron is named after the ornithologist who first recognised it as being different from the mainland species. He was the British medical doctor, Dr William Bourne, who had a special interest in island birds. He obtained a specimen of this heron in 1951, skinned it and took it to the United Kingdom, by which time it was in a poor condition. The

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

identified it as a rather pale purple heron. It was only after other specimens were collected by Abbé René de Naurois that the differences between the island race and the mainland form were recognised.

Distribution

The only known breeding location of the heron is on Santiago Island, in the Ribeira Montanha village of Banana, in a nesting colony in a pair of African mahogany trees. The population contains about 40 adult birds, or 20 breeding pairs.

Status

The purple heron (''Ardea purpurea'') has a wide range and is a common bird and its conservation status has been assessed by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

". Bourne's heron is in a much more precarious situation, with all the known adult birds breeding in the same location. There are reports that this population has moved and is now breeding elsewhere on

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, at Serra da Malagueta.

References

External links

Photo of Bourne’s Heron by Richard Ek
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4950206 Ardea (genus) Endemic birds of Cape Verde Fauna of Santiago, Cape Verde Birds described in 1966 Taxa named by René de Naurois