黑喉雀贏得2019年澳大利亞年度鳥類獎

黑喉雀贏得2019年澳大利亞年度鳥類獎

The black-throated finch has been voted "bird of the year" in Australia for 2019, helping draw attention to the species' decline as human activities increasingly threaten its habitat. The finch's victory was reportedly driven by support from conservationists, who connected its plight to deforestation and bushfires in Australia, as well as opposition to a planned coal mine.

隨著人類活動對其棲息地的威脅越來越大，黑喉雀被選為2019年澳大利亞的“年度鳥類”，這有助于引起人們對該物種數(shù)量減少的關(guān)注。據(jù)報(bào)道，黑喉雀的勝利是由環(huán)保主義者的支持推動的，他們將黑喉雀的困境與澳大利亞的森林砍伐和森林大火聯(lián)系起來，同時(shí)也反對計(jì)劃中的煤礦開采。

Photo: Eric Vanderduys/Stop Adani [CC BY 2.0]/Flickr

Black-throated finches once inhabited dry, grassy woodlands throughout northeastern Australia, gathering in small flocks to forage for seeds and insects. They experienced steep declines in the 20th century, though, and were last seen in the state of New South Wales in 1994, according to BirdLife Australia, leaving Queensland as their final refuge. There are two subspecies, and while both may be at risk, most of the concern focuses on the southern "white-rumped" variety, which now exists at only a few scattered sites. Its range has shrunk by about 80% in recent decades, and fewer than 800 individuals are thought to be left.

黑喉雀曾經(jīng)居住在澳大利亞東北部干燥多草的林地，成群結(jié)隊(duì)地尋找種子和昆蟲。然而，在20世紀(jì)，它們的數(shù)量急劇下降，據(jù)澳大利亞鳥類保護(hù)組織稱，它們最后一次出現(xiàn)在新南威爾士州是在1994年，昆士蘭成了它們最后的避難所。有兩個亞種，雖然它們都可能面臨危險(xiǎn)，但人們最擔(dān)心的是南方的“白腰”變種，現(xiàn)在只存在于少數(shù)分散的地點(diǎn)。在最近的幾十年里，它的活動范圍縮小了80%，估計(jì)只剩下不到800只。

And now, with the southern subspecies limited to just a few enclaves, conservationists are worried a new danger is poised to wipe it out. Much of its remaining range falls within the footprint of the planned Carmichael coal mine, a controversial project that has been under consideration in various forms for about a decade. Although developer Adani Mining has scaled back the original scope of the project, it would reportedly still be one of the largest coal mines in Australia. Adani has offered to clear the land gradually, supposedly giving the finches time to move somewhere else, but this plan has been criticized by scientists.

現(xiàn)在，由于南方的亞種僅局限在少數(shù)幾個飛地上，環(huán)保人士擔(dān)心新的危險(xiǎn)即將把它消滅掉?？ㄟ~克爾煤礦是一個有爭議的項(xiàng)目，大約10年來，人們一直在以各種形式考慮這個項(xiàng)目。盡管開發(fā)商阿達(dá)尼礦業(yè)已經(jīng)縮減了原項(xiàng)目的規(guī)模，但據(jù)報(bào)道，它仍將是澳大利亞最大的煤礦之一。阿達(dá)尼已經(jīng)提出逐步清理土地，據(jù)說這給了雀類時(shí)間遷移到其他地方，但是這個計(jì)劃受到了科學(xué)家的批評。

Growing concerns about the mine played a big role in elevating black-throated finches to "bird of the year," but as Sean Dooley of BirdLife Australia tells The Guardian, that isn't the only reason they won. In addition to being threatened, he argues, they also happen to be beautiful. "As someone who has gone out and seen that bird in nature, they are subtly stunning," Dooley says. "No illustration I have seen has done justice to the beauty of the bird in real life. They are a literal breath-taker when you see them."

人們對礦難的擔(dān)憂日益加劇，這在將黑喉雀提升為“年度最佳鳥類”的過程中發(fā)揮了重要作用，但正如澳大利亞國際鳥盟的肖恩·杜利告訴《衛(wèi)報(bào)》的那樣，這并不是它們獲獎的唯一原因。他認(rèn)為，除了受到威脅之外，它們碰巧也是美麗的。杜利說:“當(dāng)有人出去看到那只鳥在大自然中的樣子時(shí)，他們會感到微妙的震驚。”“在我所見過的插圖中，沒有一幅能真實(shí)地再現(xiàn)這只鳥的美。當(dāng)你看到它們時(shí)，它們真的會屏住呼吸。”

Australia's bird of the year contest only began a few years ago, but while it's younger than a similar competition in New Zealand, it has quickly become a high-profile event. This year's poll even featured a scandal, thanks to the discovery of a sophisticated voter-fraud operation favoring the sulphur-crested cockatoo. Within minutes, the cockatoo received thousands of automated votes from the same location, along with other votes for the finch and rainbow lorikeet "in an attempt to disguise the ruse," according to The Guardian, which notes all the fraudulent votes were "promptly identified and removed."

澳大利亞的年度鳥類大賽幾年前才開始，雖然它比新西蘭的同類比賽年輕，但很快就成為備受矚目的活動。今年的選舉甚至出現(xiàn)了丑聞，這要?dú)w功于一項(xiàng)復(fù)雜的選舉舞弊操作的發(fā)現(xiàn)，該操作有利于硫冠鳳頭鸚鵡。據(jù)《衛(wèi)報(bào)》報(bào)道，在幾分鐘內(nèi)，這只鳳頭鸚鵡收到了來自同一地點(diǎn)的數(shù)千張自動投票，以及其他“試圖掩飾詭計(jì)”的雀和彩虹鸚鵡的選票?！缎l(wèi)報(bào)》指出，所有的欺詐選票都被“迅速識別并移除”。

And aside from that kind of unwanted attention, the contest's popularity has also helped it grow, Dooley says, shifting to focus less on already-famous birds than on those in need of more awareness. "People could be cynical and say nobody had heard of this bird five years ago, and that is exactly the point. That just shows how the awareness of Australian birds is growing," he says. "When we did the first poll in 2017 we essentially focused on birds we thought people would recognize. But the sad reality is that many of our birds are becoming iconic for all the wrong reasons; they are now emblematic of the extinction crisis."

杜利說，除了這種不受歡迎的關(guān)注之外，這項(xiàng)比賽的受歡迎程度也促進(jìn)了它的發(fā)展，它不再關(guān)注那些已經(jīng)出名的鳥類，而是關(guān)注那些需要更多關(guān)注的鳥類。“人們可能會冷嘲熱諷，說五年前沒有人聽說過這種鳥，而這正是問題的關(guān)鍵。這僅僅表明了澳大利亞鳥類的意識是如何增長的，”他說。“當(dāng)我們在2017年進(jìn)行第一次民意調(diào)查時(shí)，我們主要關(guān)注我們認(rèn)為人們會認(rèn)出的鳥類。但可悲的現(xiàn)實(shí)是，我們的許多鳥類正因?yàn)楦鞣N錯誤的原因而變得具有標(biāo)志性;它們現(xiàn)在是物種滅絕危機(jī)的象征。”