Marquesas monarch
| Marquesas monarch | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pomarea mendozae | ||||||||||||
| ( Hartlaub , 1854) |
The Marquesas Monarch ( Pomarea mendozae ) is a bird art from the family of the monarch , of the Marquesas in the southern Pacific is endemic. There are two subspecies. The nominate form P. m. mendozae from the islands of Hiva Oa and Tahuata are considered to be extinct, the island race P. m. motanensis from Molopu is very rare.
description
The Marquesas monarch reaches a size of 170 millimeters including tail, the wing length is 88 to 95 millimeters, the tail length 70 to 79 millimeters, the beak ridge 17.8 millimeters, the beak length from the nostril 11.6 to 12.5 millimeters and the Walking foot 28 millimeters. The male is a single color, glossy black and has a light blue beak. In the female, the head is black and the rest of the body is white. The feathers are black with a white border. The tail is spotted black on the end band. In the motanensis breed , the tail end has a pink to yellow-brown tint. The young birds are reddish brown.
Habitat and way of life
The Marquesas monarch inhabits different habitats such as dry forests with Pisonia trees ( Pisonia grandis ), cloud forests and degraded forests in the coastal zones and in the valleys of the high altitudes. While the older birds prefer areas with dense, lush vegetation, the young birds often stay in bush-like, dry vegetation. The Marquesas monarch feeds mainly on insects.
status
The island race of Hiva Oa was considered common during the Whitney South Sea Expedition in 1922. In 1975 a male was last detected there for several weeks. It was last observed on Tahuata in 1922. The only stock lives today in a 13 km² area on the island of Mohotani. In 1975 there were 200 to 350 pairs. In 2000 the population dropped to 80 to 125 pairs.
Although the Marquesas monarch has been strictly protected on Mohotani since 1968, he is still a highly endangered species. Feral cats and overgrazing by sheep are still a major threat. Much of the vegetation in the Marquesas Islands is from overgrazing and fire been destroyed. Much of the original dry forest has been converted to grassland and the highland forest has been reduced to a few forest patches. The Pacific rat , the Shepherd Maina and the Great Horned Owl pose a further threat .
Web links
- L'Oiseau sur la branche - Monarque Marquisien (PDF, French; 75 kB)
- Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition (PDF file; 1.78 MB)
- Pomarea mendozae in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.