The story The fourth species ‘o’o clung to survival for much longer than the others. It was also the most divergent of the four. Whereas the other three are very similar looking creatures that show their close affinity quite clearly, the Kauai ‘O’o was comparatively aberrant. By no means so flashy in appearance, it was […]
Category: Passeriformes
Greater Amakihi (Hemignathus sagittirostris)
The story The Greater Amakihi, a rather non-descript little honeycreeper coloured olive green, was discovered by the world of ornithology during 1892 when Rothschild’s collector Henry Palmer took four specimens. In December 1895 a few individuals were collected, and the species was located again during 1900. The following year it was found once more, since […]
Kioea (Chaetoptila angustipluma)
The story In terms of extinct birds the Hawaiian Islands are one of the world’s black spots. The losses at species and subspecies level have been enormous and there is no sign that this process is letting up. There are several species and races that are unlikely to see out the next decade, such as […]
Kittlitzs Thrush (Zoothera terrestris)
The story The name of Baron Friedrich Heinrich von Kittlitz is associated with the stories of several extinct birds. During the late 1820’s he explored a number of Pacific islands during a round-the-world expedition on a Russian corvette called the Senjawin. In June 1829 Kittlitz landed on Peel Island (Chichi-jima), the largest island in the […]
Koa Finch (Rhodacanthis palmeri)
The story The Koa Finch is something of a mystery. Was it one species or was it two? Were the “Greater” and “Lesser” Koa Finches both members of the same species? During 1891 Henry Palmer was busy collecting specimens on the Hawaiian Islands for Walter Rothschild. The enormously wealthy scion of the famous banking family […]
Kosrae Starling (Aplonis corvina)
The story Three starlings of the genus Aplonis have vanished. The species from Kosrae Island, one of the Caroline group in the Pacific, is known from just a series of specimens collected by F. H. von Kittlitz in December 1827. Five skins exist today, three in St Petersburg and two in Leiden; there may be […]
Molokai Oo (Moho bishopi)
The story The ‘o’o that inhabited the island of Molokai was discovered rather later than the others but it was known to science as an extant species for only a very short period. Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was a sudden surge of interest in the birds of Hawaii, and several teams […]
Mysterious Starling (Aplonis mavornata)
The story This species is known from just a single skin in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. For many years this skin was a complete mystery and its origin was entirely unknown, but thanks to some comprehensive detective work conducted by Storrs Olson of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, its origin is […]
Norfolk Starling (Aplonis fusca)
The story The third extinct member of the genus Aplonis inhabited the islands of Norfolk and Lord Howe. Both these Tasman Sea islands have lost several of their endemic birds and the starling vanished during the first half of the twentieth century. The species has been divided into two races, the nominate from Norfolk Island […]
Akialoa (Hemignathus obscurus)
The story Because it is so poorly known, the honeycreeper family, in particular its extinct members, arouses a certain amount of controversy. It is classified and reclassified over and over again, and drastic revisions of the family are made from time to time. Unfortunately, these revisions are, of necessity, made from specimen material rather than […]