The Rodrigues fody (''Foudia flavicans'') is a rare species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the weaver family. It 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 elsew ...

Rodrigues Rodrigues (french: Île Rodrigues, link=yes ; Creole: ) is a autonomous outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about east of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Islands, which include Mauritius and Réunion. Rodr ...

, an island of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

. It is classified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as being vulnerable.BirdLife International Species Fact Sheet
/ref> It is also on the United States' Endangered Species List with an endangered status.USFWS
Addition of 30 African birds to list of endangered and threatened wildlife.
''Federal Register'' January 12, 1995. This bird is 12 to 13 cm long. It is yellow with an orange face and brown back, wings, and tail. The bird can be found in the canopy at heights of at least 5 metres, and sometimes travels in flocks. It may be associated with the

Norfolk Island pine ''Araucaria heterophylla'' (synonym ''A. excelsa'') is a species of conifer. As its vernacular name Norfolk Island pine (or Norfolk pine) implies, the tree is endemic to Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific ...

(''Araucaria cunninghamii'') and some

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

of plants. More birds are found in areas with more dense stands of taller trees and higher diversity of tree species.Impey, A. J., et al. (2002)
Population recovery of the threatened endemic Rodrigues fody (''Foudia flavicans'') (Aves, Ploceidae) following reforestation.
''Biological Conservation'' 107(3) 299-305. It feeds on insects, spiders, seeds, nectar, and fruit. Once abundant on the island, the bird was nearly driven to extinction with only 5 or 6 pairs remaining by 1968. Due to conservation efforts its numbers rose to between 911 and 1200 individuals by the year 1999. The main threat to the species is the destruction of its forest habitat. The forest was cleared for

subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...

and

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

. The bird also competes with its introduced relative, the Madagascar red fody (''Foudia madagascariensis'').

Cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

s and

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

reduce the food supply. Conservation efforts have included

reforestation Reforestation (occasionally, reafforestation) is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, but also after clearcutting. Management A debate ...

, the main cause of the increase in fody numbers.

Fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

s keep out livestock.

References

Rodrigues fody Birds of Mauritius Fauna of Rodrigues Rodrigues fody Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Ploceidae-stub