The Tasman starling (''Aplonis fusca'') was described in 1836 by John Gould as a species which occurred on both

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

and Lord Howe Island. In 1928 Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews recognized that the plumage of the race from Lord Howe Island was much browner and more greyish than the plumage of the Norfolk Island race and split the species into two forms, the Norfolk starling (''Aplonis fusca fusca''), and the Lord Howe starling (''Aplonis fusca hulliana''). Both subspecies are now extinct, thus so the species. __TOC__

Norfolk starling

The Norfolk starling (''Aplonis fusca fusca''), was a small bird in the starling family. It is the

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

nominate

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the Tasman starling.

Distribution

The Norfolk starling was confined to

, an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n territory in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

Description

The Norfolk starling was 20 cm long. The wing length was 9.8 cm to 10.3 cm, the length of the tail was 6.3 to 6.8 cm, the length of the culmen 1.3 cm and tarsus was 2.5 cm. It was generally greyish brown. The males were glossy metallic green from head to the throat. The back, the rump, the uppertail coverts, the wing coverts, and underparts were grey, but undertail coverts were whitish. The bill was black and the eyes orange red. The females were coloured similarly but the greenish gloss were slightly duller and a grey throat contrasted with pale brownish flanks. The under breast was washed ochraceous. The abdomen and the undertail coverts were yellowish white.

Extinction

The reasons for its extinction are unclear. Competition from introduced European starlings,

song thrush The song thrush (''Turdus philomelos'') is a Thrush (bird), thrush that breeds across the West Palearctic. It has brown upper-parts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies. Its distinctive Birdsong, song, ...

es and

common blackbird The common blackbird (''Turdus merula'') is a species of true thrush. It is also called the Eurasian blackbird (especially in North America, to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds), or simply the blackbird where this does not ...

s, overhunting and habitat loss through agricultural clearing might have played important roles. Reports in older literature that it was driven to extinction by rats like its relative from Lord Howe Island are incorrect because rats did not become a pest on Norfolk Island until 1940, while the Norfolk starling became extinct in 1923.

Lord Howe starling

The Lord Howe starling (''Aplonis fusca hulliana'') was a small bird in the starling family. It is an extinct

of the Tasman starling. It was endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, part of New South Wales,

Description

The Lord Howe starling was 18 cm long. The head, the neck, the mantle and the throat were glossy metallic green. The back was slaty grey with a dull greenish gloss. The rump and the underparts were grey. The tail was grey with brownish tips to the feathers. The wings were rich brown. The iris was orange red.

Ecology

The starlings were called "red-eyes" from their eye colour, or "cudgimeruk" from their distinctive calls, by the islanders. They were forest dwellers which lived and foraged in pairs. During the nesting period a clutch of four to five bluish red-blotched eggs were laid in a nest in a

hollow Hollow may refer to: Natural phenomena *Hollow, a low, wooded area, such as a copse * Hollow (landform), a small vee-shaped, riverine type of valley *Tree hollow, a void in a branch or trunk, which may provide habitat for animals Places * Sleepy ...

in a dead tree or tree fern.

Extinction

The fate of the Lord Howe starling was sealed in June 1918 when the SS ''Makambo'' grounded at Ned's Beach, thus allowing

black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

s to leave the vessel and overrun the island. Within two years 40% of Lord Howe's endemic bird species were extinct, including the

Lord Howe fantail The Lord Howe fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa cervina''), also known as the Lord Howe Island fantail or fawn-breasted fantail, was a small bird in the fantail family, Rhipiduridae. It is an extinct subspecies of the New Zealand fantail (''Rhipid ...

Lord Howe gerygone The Lord Howe gerygone or Lord Howe gerygone flyeater (''Gerygone insularis'') was a small bird in the family (biology), family Acanthizidae, brown and greyish in color. Its head was brown apart from a pale grey eye-ring and a grey throat and ch ...

, and

robust white-eye The robust white-eye (''Zosterops strenuus''), also known as the Lord Howe white-eye or robust silvereye and locally as the "big grinnell", is an extinct species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It was Endemism, endemic to the lowland forests ...

. The Lord Howe starling vanished by 1919.

References

Bibliography

*Errol Fuller (2000). "Extinct Birds", * Day, David - The Doomsday Book of Animals * Greenway, James C. - Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World * Luther, Dieter - Die ausgestorbenen Vögel der Welt: Die neue Brehm-Bücherei 424

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet: Norfolk Starling''Norfolk Island Starling. Aplonis fusca.''
by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book ''Extinct Birds of New Zealand'', by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006
Illustration on a stamp
Birdtheme.org

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120224043739/http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/naturalis/detail?lang=uk&id=30 Museum Naturalis - Tasman (Lord Howe Island) Starlingbr>3D view
of specimens RMNH 110.032, RMNH 110.033 and RMNH 110.035 at

Naturalis Naturalis Biodiversity Center ( nl, Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit Naturalis) is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Alth ...

, Leiden (requires

QuickTime QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...

browser plugin)
''Norfolk Island Starling. Aplonis fusca.''
by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book ''Extinct Birds of New Zealand'', by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006 Birds described in 1836 Aplonis Bird extinctions since 1500 Extinct birds of Lord Howe Island Extinct birds of Norfolk Island {{Sturnidae-stub