There have been more sightings of Samoa’s endangered national bird the manumea in two different sites of the Uafato rainforest on the east coast of Upolu.

The sighting of the manumea (Didunculus strigirostris) and recording of their calls were made by two teams while doing field surveys in the Uafato forest towards Tiavea Tai.

Sefuiva Moeumu Uili, who is with the Samoa Conservation Society’s Manumea Project, told the Samoa Observer that she was leading one of the two teams when they came across the endangered birds.

"I was leading Team 2 that searched the southern side of the forest towards Afulilo and Faleafaga led Team 1 that went eastwards towards Tiavea,” Sefuiva said. 

“Our records of the bird calling and sighted around the same time of the day tells us there could be two or more [manumea] individuals out there.”

According to the field survey officer, an adult manumea was spotted in the Uafato forest by Team 2.

"One adult manumea was spotted at the western side of Uafato forest towards Tiavea Tai by one team,” she said. 

“Vocal calls were both heard on the west and south sides by both teams and were interestingly heard around the same time of the day from 6am and again at around 11am.”

Sefuiva said their project is supported by Birdlife International in partnership with the S.C.S. and the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management [BIOPAMA] programme run by the IUCN [International Union for Conservation for Nature]. 

The weather has also not been helpful for the two teams undertaking the survey, said Sefuiva, who is concerned that they need to work quickly to identify and save the remaining manumea population.

"The weather was not quite helpful during the survey so we could be missing more interesting findings during the survey. 

“Our findings tell us conservation action is a priority now, we need to do something now and do it properly to save the remaining population in the wild.”

Enforcement of a ban on their hunting will also go a long way in ensuring the remaining population of the endangered bird species are saved, added Sefuiva. 

"Enforcement [of the ban] on the hunting of pigeons in the wild, in particular in the forests where they are being reported from, especially at Uafato. 

Sefuiva confirmed that in Uafato the ban on hunting pigeons in the wild is still in place and it needs to be supported by the community.

"Uafato confirmed its ban on hunting pigeons in the wild and we can only ask for everyone's support to respect that for the sake of protecting our critically endangered manumea, highly at risk of extinction," she said.

"There could be two or more manumea in the Uafato forest today, but we don't know if those two will be the last two that we have. 

“Pigeons move around to habitats where it is safe to survive and where there is food to help it survive. 

“So if we are protecting these two birds in Uafato and later in the year they move again because of food scarcity and if they get shot down accidentally somewhere else in Samoa, then we know we have failed to protect what is truly ours to be proud of.”

The field survey in the rainforest of Uafato was undertaken by the S.C.S. staff in partnership with officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

In early March this year Falealupo villagers in Savai'i also reported the sighting of the endangered bird species, giving conservationists hope that the manumea has a permanent home on the big island.