Tasman Starling (Aplonis fusca)
Posted on 31 December, 1923 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1923
Comments:
This species was formerly found on the Australian islands of Norfolk and Lord Howe, but it is now Extinct owing to Black Rat predation, habitat destruction and competition with introduced birds. The last record was of the nominate subspecies on Norfolk Island in 1923; it was certainly gone by the time the island was visited in 1968.
Habitat:
Though it is likely to have inhabited forest and scrub it also fed on fruit and crops, and was even regarded as something of a pest. It nested in tree hollows (Garnett et al. 2011).
Causes:
The extinction of the Lord Howe Island population was due to the arrival of Black Rat Rattus rattus on the island in 1918 (Hume 2017). The reasons for the extinction of the Norfolk Island population are less clear, however may have become extinct as a result of habitat destruction and competition with introduced birds (Garnett 1992, Hume 2017). This population was also persecuted as it fed on fruit and crops (Hume 2017).
Distribution:
Aplonis fusca was endemic to Norfolk Island (to Australia) and Lord Howe Island, Australia (Garnett 1992). On Lord Howe Island, the population of subspecies hulliana tumbled to extinction from numbering thousands in 1913-1915 - it was not seen after 1918 and was certainly extinct by 1928 (Sharland 1929, Hindwood 1940, Garnett 1992). The nominate subspecies on Norfolk Island was last recorded in 1923 (Garnett 1992), although its absence was not noted until 1968 (Smithers and Disney 1969).