Current view: Text account
Site description (2006 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA covers the entire range of the Ogea Monarch: the two principal islands of Ogea, Ogea Levu and Ogea Driki (13 km
2 and 5 km
2 respectively, 2 km apart), and the smaller island of Dakuiyanuya (immediately adjacent to Ogea Levu). These are raised coralline islands.
This IBA has six endemic subspecies which are restricted to the Lau group or other small islands in the south of Fiji and are not included in any other IBAs. The Blue-crowned Lory is also restricted to the South Lau group within Fiji but is more widespread around Tonga and Samoa.
A1 Globally threatened species
* Ogea Monarch (VU) – entire world population
A2 Restricted-range species
11 species (out of 36 in Fiji), including the Blue-crowned Lory which is not in any other Fiji IBA.
Non-bird biodiversity: No surveys have been undertaken.
In 1986, the islands were estimated to have a total population of c. 2,000 people who subsist on farming and fishing. Being raised coralline islands they retain extensive forest as the soil is too poor for commercial agriculture or coconut plantations. Less than 10% was estimated to have been cleared for subsistence agriculture. The remaining land is old-growth forest which varies in structure depending on the substrate and is stunted in higher land exposed to the southeast trade-winds.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Agriculture; Alien Invasive Species
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
The threats to the Ogea Monarch are poorly known but it may be threatened by chance catastrophic events (such as cyclones), predation and other impacts of invasive alien species, and hybridisation with the closely related Slaty Monarch which also occurs on Ogea. Research is needed on the potential impacts of alien species such as feral cats and Black Rats. The proportion of birds showing plumage features of Slaty Monarch does not appear to have increased, suggesting that hybridisation is not a new or increasing threat. The threat from habitat loss is low as it is (currently) uneconomic to clear the forest, and it appears that this species prefers degraded successional forest. Ornithologists have visited the island on four occasions (in 1924, 1986, 2004 and 2011) and the population was estimated at approximately 2,000 birds in 1986. Some basic monitoring of this species is required, but all work is confounded by the difficulty of finding transport to this isolated island.
Unprotected. Site of National Significance.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ogea (Fiji). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ogea-iba-fiji on 22/12/2024.
