10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2015

What wasn’t publicised at the time, but the scientist later both admitted and owned, is that the kingfisher was then killed and collected for scientific reasons. I’m not going to rehash the arguments for scientific collecting here. The large room the collection was held in was a profoundly weird place. Bush Wrens.

Collecting 256

Collecting Solomon Islands New Zealand Fiji 256

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

The bird today is documented physically by only a single specimen (a second was lost), but where the specimens were collected — and therefore where this species actually lived before its extinction — is unknown. Specimens were collected in 1904, and the bird has not been recorded with certainty since. What a horror!

Solomon Islands 279

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 279

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2012

For starters New Zealand didn’t seem to have or have ever had the right type of wetlands to sustain a population of this large piscivore. The fossil record here is actually very good for birds, but across the whole of the country the entire collection of bones of pelicans only represented seven individuals.

New Zealand 199

New Zealand Pelicans Solomon Islands Palau 199