GALLERY OF EXTINCTED ANIMALS no. 4 - Birds Birds Birds

A continuing study in animals lost forever...

Heath Hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido)

The Heath Hen was the 1st endangered bird that post-European settlement Americans made a concerted effort to save from extinction. Ultimately, they failed. The last birds on the Mainland U.S. were gone by 1870, and the last of the species died on Martha's Vineyard in 1932. A couple of centuries of over-hunting for meat and several unforeseen calamities during the years of conservation brought their numbers too low to recover.


This illustration depicts males calling and displaying their cheek pouches and ear plumes, much as the other species of Prairie Chicken in the U.S. do. They would gather at leks, areas where multiple males display for prospective mates.


They were actually quite common in the Colonial Era, and were commonly eaten until conservation measures were taken in the early 20th Century. Heathies were considered poor quality meat, but were readily available in their range from New England to Virginia.


A view of the erected ear plumes and orange cheek patches (which would be inflated during display).


During the years of conservation on Martha's Vineyard, disasters such as intense wildfires, poachers, severe weather, and inexplicable increases in Goshawks befell the birds in their preserves.


There is still some discussion as to whether the Heath Hen should be considered a distinct species or a subspecies of one of the other 2 species, the Lesser and Greater Prairie Chickens.


Kona Grosbeak or Kona Finch (Chloridops kona)

The Kona Finch is a bird that was not well known by people. There is only one written observation of the bird's habits, by naturalist Scott Barchard Wilson in the early 1890's, and the native people of the Kona Coast of Hawaii Island weren't familiar with them at all. They seemed to be already fairly rare, when Europeans first encountered them, and their elusive habits in the mountainous terrain in the area didn't help. No one is really sure why they went extinct. The last one was seen in 1894.


Kona Finches had thick cracking beaks, to aid in opening the heavy seeds they ate. Wilson's description of the bird was of a fairly sluggish inactive animal, that seldom sang.


There exist no photos, nor well preserved mounts of the birds. Can you spot what's wrong with this picture? Hint, read the above picture caption. This artist was probably confusing the bird with one mentioned in the next caption.


The Kona and 2 other closely related birds in the Kona Coast area, the Greater Koa and Lesser Koa Finch, went extinct in the 1890's from unknown causes. The Kona Grosbeak was the smallest of the 3.


Greater Koa Finch (Rhodacanthis palmeri), last seen 1896, sometimes indulged in caterpillars, as well as their usual diet of seeds. This was the noisiest of the 3 birds. They fed mostly on the seeds of Koa trees, thus the name. Notice the sexual dimorphism, the adult males having reddish plumage.


Lesser Koa Finch (Rhodacanthis flaviceps), last seen 1891, was in habit quite like the Greater Koa Finch, only a bit smaller and not as sexually dimorphic.


Labrador Duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius)

The Labrador is the only DUCK to go extinct in, and the first BIRD known to go extinct in North America since European settlement. The causes for the loss of this animal are not well understood, and probably fairly complex. The Last one was seen in 1858 in NY State.


The Labrador Duck was often referred to as the "Skunk Duck", because of its coloration. They were also referred to as the "Pied Duck", as were 2 other birds off of the NE U.S. and Atlantic Canada, which makes historical investigations of the bird difficult.


The female was less dramatically colored.


The shovel like bill was well formed for dislodging and seizing shellfish (Bivalves, like muscles and clams), which were the main part of its diet. Its believed that the dramatic decline in North Atlantic shellfish populations in the mid 1800's (due to over-harvesting by humans) was a major cause contributing to extinction.


Sad museum specimens are the only way you'll ever see one in person.


Because of their foul taste and speed of putrification of the flesh, meat seeking and recreational hunters didn't often go after them.


Another possible source of the species decline may have been hunting for the millinery trade, or the trade in feathers for the lady's hat industry.


The eggs, as well, were sought after, and may have been over-harvested, leading to decline.


Because the Labrador went extinct before much scientific study of the species could occur, little is known of its habits and breeding ecology.


Another of John James Audubon's studies of North American birds, as with most of his beautiful plates, these were rendered from birds he shot, then painted , often in location in the wild.

GALLERY OF EXTINCTED ANIMALS no. 3 - Birds again!

A continuing study in animals lost forever, due to human causes or within the historical memory of current humans. This post is dedicated to Wolf.



The Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)

There really is no more emblematic a case of extinction than the Dodo. This now famous extinct bird was found on the African island of Mauritius, until over-hunting nest predation by introduced dogs, rats, and other animals introduced from Europe wiped them from existence. The date of extinction is debatable, but the last reasonable sighting of the bird was in 1693 (only 112 years after the 1st Europeans saw the birds).


This creature was a classic example of island isolation leading to form and habit that would lend the species to easy exploitation once humans (as was often the case, Europeans) and other outside species showed up.


The birds had evolved on an island without large predators. They were relatively slow, flightless, lacked fear of humans and other animals, and nested in easily found nests on the ground.


Although the Dodo is often depicted as stupid, fat, and sluggish, this is a misrepresentation. Most of the illustrations of the bird showing them as fat are of overfed captive birds, wild birds were more fit. They were also fairly active for their size, and no more or less intelligent than closely related birds.


The Dodo was a large flightless relative of pigeons and doves, and probably evolved from large flight capable doves from either the Indian Subcontinent or SE Asia. They remained in Mauritius undisturbed by permanent human settlement until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th Century.


Who needs to be that fast and agile, when you eat fruit that falls to the ground and have no predators. Flightlessness and large size is a recurring theme for birds that evolve on islands without large mammalian predators.


The Walghvogel (Wallowing Bird) , as the Dutch originally called it, stood up to a meter tall and could weigh about 50 lbs.


Though their meat was not considered very palatable, they were easily overtaken and killed, and so they were, in great numbers by sailors and settlers. The variety of human introduced animals that plagued them were dogs, cats, rats, pigs, and even monkeys. They didn't stand a chance.


There is somewhat of a debate over the origin of the name, Dodo... ranging from several Dutch terms, a Portuguese term for "fool", and the noise the bird made (a "doo-doooo" pigeon like coo).


Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis)

Is it extinct? Though the bird was last conclusively seen in Louisiana in 1944, many sightings, possibly credible and not, have been made up to the present time. This is the bird, that won't die, at least not in people's imaginations. There are credible and believable accounts of the bird appearing up until 1972, but the trail had gone cold after that... and it was assumed they were gone. In 2004, however, photos of a large woodpecker resembling an Ivory-billed was taken in an Arkansas swamp, instigating an intense scientific search, which so far has yet to produce conclusive evidence that Ivory Bills still live.


The birds used to range widely through the deep forests of the American Southeast, preferring swampy hardwood and pine forests. The extensive deforestation of this area was the major cause of their decline and possible extinction.


A pair works together to feed the young in their nest cavity in a Louisiana forest in the 1930's.


Many ornithologists (scientists who study birds) have been hunting for the possibly extant birds for decades.


The bird closely resembles the not extincted Pileated Woodpecker, but has a whitish bill, white wing edges, and the females have all black and white heads. The general similarity in appearance though, has lead to doubts about most sightings since 1944.


Many sightings of the bird believed to be extinct have been made over the decades by professionals and enthusiasts alike. When driving through an area of forest near the Pearl River in Mississippi in 1998, I saw a bird that greatly matched the description of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker... in fairly poor light and of course without any photo documentation.


Several grainy photos and suggestive, but not clearly conclusive call recordings, were made of the bird in 2004-2005 in an Arkansas swamp. This has lead to an extensive hunt by the National Audubon Society, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and governmental agencies for the bird in that area. So far, it has yet to come up with clear photos, indisputable recordings, or a specimen, although several convincing (to some) grainy photos and recordings have been made.


These loud and quite visible birds were rare, due to habitat loss and degradation, by the early 1900s. After the end of the American Civil War, the forests of the Southeast were logged heavily up until the present time. It's safe to say that we have probably lost 90 percent of the Southeastern forests.


This classic print from John James Audubon shows the male (red crest) and the female (black crest) together.


The hunt for the birds continues in earnest in the swamps of Arkansas. There really is a massive amount of information and evidence, and the best compilation of information on the undertaking is found here... The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (who are decidedly convinced that Ivory-billed Woodpeckers still live).

Gallery of Extincted Animals no. 2 - MAMMALS

Part 2 of an ongoing menagerie of animals that are gone forever... due to human causes.

Bali Tiger (Panthera tigris balica)

The Bali Tiger, a subspecies of Tiger, was last seen on Bali in 1937. As with many island animals, increasing development of their forest habitats and over hunting finally did them in. Although these pressures had existed for a long time. They became more intense after Dutch colonization, when big game hunting trips were popular. The closely related Javan Tiger is also extinct.


The Bali Tiger was the smallest of the Tiger sub-species. There was a cultural ambivalence towards the Tiger in Bali, as it was seen as both sacred and detrimental to live stock.


The black bars on the forehead were one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Bali Tiger.


Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus)

Not a tiger at all, but a predatory marsupial (like a kangaroo or wombat) the size of a Collie, the Tasmanian Tiger prowled the forests of the Australian island of Tasmania. The last individual spotted conclusively in the wild was in 1930, and the last know living specimen died in the Hobart Zoo in 1936. Seen as a threat to livestock, intensive hunting (encouraged by government bounties), introduced dogs, and disease finally conspired to end them.


Also called a Thylacine, they had gone extinct 1000s of years before on mainland Australia.


The gorgeous stripes that earned them the erroneous moniker, "tiger"


Although the last known living tiger died in a zoo in 1936, people continue to report sightings in the wilderness of Tasmania.


A famous picture of the last specimen, "Benjamin", yawning in 1933.


Although, this last specimen is referred to as "Benjamin", there is doubt that it was a male.


The topic of the Thylacine's impact on livestock is still debated, as many scientists contend that wild dogs took many of the sheep and chickens that Thylacines were said to have killed.


A pack of Thylacine cubs in an Australian zoo. This was one of only 2 species of marsupial in which the male possessed a pouch.


Some of the remaining mounted specimens don't do the Thylacine justice.


A museum mount and skeleton. There is actually work underway in some institutions to clone a Tasmanian Tiger from DNA on some of these specimens.


A view of the skull shows a tooth structure and arrangement unlike placental (non-marsupial, like cats, wolves, weasels) predators.


Quagga (Equus quagga)

The 1st species of Zebra scientifically described by Europeans, was also the only one to go extinct. By the 1870's they had been hunted out of existence in the wild of the arid Grasslands of South Africa, where they were found. The last known specimen died in a Dutch zoo in 1883.


The Quagga was named for the call it makes, which sounds very much like "quagga".


This museum specimen, one of only 23 in the world, of a Quagga foal shows the distinctive pattern of the Quagga... brown and white stripes that fade to solid brown.


The only known pictures are of a female, taken in 1870, at the London Zoo.


What an awful enclosure. Zoos have come a long way since 1870.


Quaggas were hunted for meat, pelt, and as competitors for the grazing plants upon which livestock feed.


For the longest time, the relationship between Quagga and other Zebra species was not well understood. After DNA from pelts and mounted specimens was analyzed, it was found to be very closely related to the common and widespread Plains Zebra. The 2 species split from each other around 200,000 years ago.


Stellar's Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas)

This 8 meter, 10 ton relative of the Manatee was once found throughout the North Pacific Ocean. By 1741, upon the first known sighting of the animals by Europeans, they were only found in the Asian coastal areas of the Bering Sea. Their numbers and range had been severely limited already by the activities of the first peoples to arrive in the area. The arrival of Europeans greatly accelerated their decline, and by 1768 they were all gone, forever.

The Sea Cow was a slow moving animal that could neither come ashore, nor submerge to escape danger. They ate various varieties of kelp, and were most often found around kelp forests. They proved easy prey for native peoples who hunted them for meat, fat, and their thick black gray skins, which they used to make boats.

The more efficient and less restrained hunting methods of Europeans (who hunted them for meat, skin and fat for cooking and heating oil) proved too great a challenge for the Stellar's.

27 years after discovery by Europeans, they were extinct.


A skeleton in the American Museum of Natural Science in NYC, next to that of a smaller West Indian Manatee

The massive frame of this animal made it difficult to escape hunters.

The Sea Cow did not have differentiated teeth as we do, but 2 large bony plates that ground their food to be swallowed. They were sloppy eaters... wherever sea cows were found, one could find the stems and floats of kelp littering the beach.


Caribbean Monk Seal or West Indian Monk Seal (Monachus tropicalis)

This small brown seal was the only seal to live in the Caribbean Sea and The Gulf Of Mexico in human history, and the only known seal to have gone extinct from human causes. Though the last confirmed sighting of the animal was on a small coral atoll 210 miles of the coast of Nicaragua, the United States government finally declared them EXTINCT in 2008, after years of official searching.


Caribbean Monks were sluggish, unaggressive, and curious. This all aided in the ease of hunting the animals, who were over hunted for meat and fat for oil.


They were one of the animals killed and eaten by Christopher Columbus's expedition.

Found raising their young on sandy and rocky coasts throughout the region, the last one seen in the U.S. was in 1932 off the coast of Texas.

Sea Mink (Neovison macrodon)

Like the inland species of Mink, the Sea Mink was an aquatic predatory member of the weasel family. Unlike that variety, it was hunted to extinction for its pelt by the mid 1800's. It was also almost twice the length, with a  somewhat rougher muskier scented coat, and found in coastal waters off of New England and Atlantic Canada.

No photos of Sea Mink exist, just written accounts, a few artists renderings, and many bones found in Native American midden sites along its historic range.

The Sea Mink was hunted to extinction, most likely by 1860, by European fur hunters.


The only member of the weasel family (Mustelidae) known to have gone extinct in human history.