The plan sets out more than 80 actions to be implemented over the next decade.

The Javan green magpie is threatened by habitat loss and illegal online trade.

Conservationists, including experts from Chester Zoo, have launched an international action plan to save one of the world’s most endangered birds.

Bringing together 48 experts from across the globe, the plan aims to pull the Javan green magpie back from the brink of extinction — a species so rare that fewer than 250 are thought to remain in the wild.

The plan sets out more than 80 actions to be implemented over the next decade, including targeting illegal online trade networks and working alongside mountain hiking communities. It will also expand the coordinated breeding programme and develop plans for the eventual reintroduction of captive-bred birds into protected wild habitats.

Andrew Owen, Chester Zoo's Head of Birds, who has led the zoo's involvement with the species since its earliest days and co-authored the plan, said: “This is a bird that most people have never heard of, and that's part of the problem.

“The Javan green magpie is running out of time - and running out of places to hide. When survey teams searched across mountain after mountain in Java and found nothing, it brought home just how desperate the situation has become”.

He added: “Chester Zoo has been fighting for this species for over a decade. We helped build the breeding programme that now holds almost every individual known to exist. But while conservation breeding buys time, it isn't a solution on its own. This new action plan is about giving the species a future in the wild. That's what drives us.”

Habitat loss, bird trapping, and illegal online trade are considered the main drivers of the species’ decline. Currently, Chester Zoo cares for 12 of the approximately 130 Javan green magpies within the entire global conservation breeding programme.

Corinne Bailey, regional field programme senior manager for South East Asia at Chester Zoo, said: “We are now planning the final details of conservation translocations, drawing on conservation breeding of the Javan green magpie, as well as preparing in situ community and poacher engagement to reduce the threat posed by the illegal wild songbird trade.”

Image (C) Chester Zoo.