The rare Firecrown of Robinson Crusoe Island (male)

The rare Firecrown of Robinson Crusoe Island (Sephanoides fernandensis), in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, can mostly only be seen in the village of San Juan Bautista, the only village on the island. This one was taken in my garden on the island. On the wild, there are still a lot of native plants, but the plants on which this bird feeds, are now very rare in the wild woods. The principal tree on which the firecrowns feed, in the year 1986, there was only one tree left on a small rock on Santa Clara Island. From this one, many seeds were taken and the plant was replanted in the gardens of the village in the last 28 years. It also feeds from flowers of exotic trees and plants such as Eucalyptus and as shown on the photo, the New Zealand flax which I planted in my garden. The advantage of this plant is that cats cannot go up the leaves, but unfortunatelly, this plant has flowers only in December. This is a male shown on the photo. The female is smaller and green. First, the specialists thought they were two different species. On the island, are only 500-1000 firecrowns left. I can assure you that when my flaxes and another native plant of the mainland of Chile I have in my garden are in flowers, most firecrowns from the island are in my garden. I also had the native plant I talked about in the garden, but they were destroyed by plagues of ants. The Juan Fernández Archipélago is as for the plant life in the same category as the Galapagos Island for the wildlife. Top One in the world.

I am lucky to have these birds in my garden on the island, but they are very

rare and in danger of extinction. See my main text in the comments. Rating

and critiques welcome.

Beautiful bird and photograph.  Your explanation is touching, good luck to you and these little birds... Mike

Congratulations on such a splendid shot of this rare and beautiful bird!

I am certain that you have spent many hours anticipating a moment such as this!

It is always heartwarming to hear of ones personal efforts to contribute to the re-population of our nearly extinct creatures in all parts of the world.

Many thanks for sharing both your photograph and your rewarding efforts of your garden.

Regards always,

Jim j.

Jim, Thanks for your words. In fact, when the weather is OK, I just get up early and walk to my flax plants and just wait a few minutes. Once I have a few good shots, I go and take breakfast at home (the reward). It is very easy to take photos to our endemic firecrown as they are not shy at all and feeding all the time. They have the same syndrom as the animals of Galapagos: no fear. Sometimes they just are facing you for a few seconds only a few centemetres from your eyes, observing you. Incredible. I planted some 15 flax plants (from seeds), so plenty of flowers in December. The only sorry, I have not gone to my island home since Dec. 2012. I am now in Patagonia, my other home. Photos were taken with flash, helps a lot.