Guam monarch
| Guam monarch | ||||||||||||
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Guam Monarch, photographed on Mount Santa Rosa , Guam in 1948 |
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| Myiagra freycineti | ||||||||||||
| Oustalet , 1881 |
The Guam monarch ( Myiagra freycineti ), also known as the Guam flycatcher , is an extinct songbird from the monarch family (Monarchidae). It was endemic to the Mariana Island of Guam . At times it was regarded as a subspecies of the Caroline monarch ( Myiagra oceanica ).
features
The Guam monarch reached a height of 13 cm. The adults' heads and necks were bluish with a metallic sheen. The back and upper wing-coverts were greenish blue. The rump was greenish-blue with a gray wash. The chin and throat were white. The breast was pale cinnamon. The tail was blue-gray. The bill, legs and feet were black. The iris was dark brown.
Habitat and way of life
The species inhabited almost all habitats on Guam, with the exception of the southern savannas . Creeping he searched the thick vegetation for insects. The Guam monarch was often seen in association with the also extinct Guam fox tail ( Rhipidura rufifrons uraniae ), but he preferred the higher canopy for foraging . Breeding apparently took place all year round, with the main breeding season being between January and June and lower breeding activity, particularly in November and December. The well-hidden nest was built from bark, lichen, thin grass, slime and cobwebs. The clutch consisted of one or two dark cream-colored eggs with reddish-brown spots and spots. The territory was defended aggressively, even against much larger birds, such as the Caroline star ( Aplonis opaca ). The Guam monarch could be located by his loud contact call, which included a series of one to six whistles.
die out
Before 1950, the Guam monarch was widespread across Guam, apart from the southern plains. From 1971 it was only restricted to the northern plateau, mainly below the steep coast in the breadfruit forests ( Artocarpus ), where it was, however, frequently found. In the following ten years there was a massive decline in the species, so that in 1981 430 specimens and in early 1983 fewer than 100 specimens were counted in the Pajon river basin . In October 1983 only a single male was observed. This individual was captured for the purpose of establishing a conservation breeding program. The attempt to save this species from extinction turned out to be a failure, as it was not possible to track down further specimens of the Guam monarch. On May 15, 1984, the male died of unknown reasons. Epidemics may have played a role as the last population was practically wiped out within six months. The decisive factor in the extinction of the Guam monarch is likely to have been the stalking of the brown night tree snake ( Boiga irregularis ), which was introduced to Guam in the 1940s and poses a serious threat to the native avifauna .
Bellows are stored in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and the Naturalis Museum in Leiden. A nest and eggs are in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum.
literature
- Julian Pender Hume, Michael P. Walters: Extinct Birds , p. 244, A & C Black 2012, ISBN 140815725X
- USFWS: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed Rule To Remove the Mariana Mallard and the Guam Broadbill From the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (PDF; 55 kB). Federal Register Vol. 67, No. 17, 2002
Individual evidence
- ^ Richard Howard, Alick Moore, Edward C. Dickinson: The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of Birds of the World
- ↑ Peter Clement, Phil A. Gregory, Cornelius W. Moeliker: Monarchidae (Monarch-Flycatchers), p. 316, Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers, Lynx Edicions, 2006
- ^ Ernst Mayr, Melvin A. Traylor, Jr. & George E. Watson: Checklist of the birds of the world . Volume XI, p. 517, Museum of Compararative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1986.
- ^ Rollin H. Baker: The Avifauna of Micronesia. Its Origin, Evolution, and Distribution , p. 277, Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1951
Web links
- Photograph ( memento of December 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) of the copy RMNH 110.008 in the Museum Naturalis , Leiden
- Guam Department of Agriculture - Guam Flycatcher
- Myiagra freycineti inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017.1. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2017.