Furry star

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Furry star
Museum specimen of a furry star

Museum specimen of a furry star

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Family : Starlings (Sturnidae)
Subfamily : Mainatinae
Genre : Singing Starlings ( Aplonis )
Type : Furry star
Scientific name
Aplonis pelzelni
Finsch , 1876

The Pelzelnstar ( Aplonis pelzelni ), also known as the Pohnpei Singstar , is an extremely rare or already extinct bird from the starling family . It is (or was) endemic to the island of Pohnpei ( Federated States of Micronesia ) in the Pacific, where it was called "she" by the islanders. It was named after the Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln (1825-1891).

description

The furry star reached a size of 19 centimeters. It was generally dark with a sooty brown top. The head was darker with a black forehead and black reins. The wings, the rump, the upper tail-coverts and the tail were lighter and showed a stronger brown color than the head. The underside was washed out olive brown. The beak and feet were black. The iris was brown. The young birds were similar to the parent animals, but their plumage was a lighter brown, especially on the underside. His call consisted of a high-pitched see-ay as bright as a bell.

habitat

The Pelzelnstar was found in dark, moist mountain forests above 425 meters above sea level, but it was also observed in plantations and at lower altitudes. The last specimen was shot at a height of 750 meters above sea level.

Way of life and food

He was a resident and usually defended a territory in pairs. He went looking for food during the day. Its diet consisted of the flowers, berries and seeds of evergreen bushes and trees, as well as insects and maggots. Reports that he built his nest in tree hollows have never been confirmed.

Hazard history

The furry star was discovered by the Polish ethnologist Johann Stanislaus Kubary (1846–1896) and described in 1876 by the German ornithologist Otto Finsch . The holotype , which was kept for some time in the Godeffroy Museum in Hamburg , is now in the Naturalis Museum in Leiden . In the early 1930s this bird seems to have been quite common. 60 specimens were shot at Pohnpei during the Whitney South Sea Expedition led by William Coultas in 1930 and 1931 and are now in the American Museum of Natural History . In 1948 ornithologist Lawrence P. Richards shot another specimen and sent it to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu , Hawaii . In 1956, the ornithologist Joe T. Marshall was the last Western scientist who was able to catch this bird. Marshall found two specimens and sent the bellows to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC After that, this species was lost. In 1973 or 1974 a couple was allegedly observed at Nantolemal Point and after unconfirmed reports from the islanders surfaced again and again in the 1970s, there were search expeditions in 1976, 1977 and 1983, which were unsuccessful. In 1990 it was classified as extinct by the IUCN until ornithologist William T. Buden acquired a female on July 4, 1995, who was shot by a local guide during a herpetological expedition in 1994. This is the last record of the species to date.

The reasons for their disappearance are unknown. Competition with other bird species and bird hunting certainly played an important role and, as with many other island species, there was also heavy nest looting by rats on Pohnpei. Even if 37% of the highland forest was cleared between 1975 and 1995, a large part of its habitat remained untouched.

Web links

Commons : Pelzelnstar  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files