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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 endemic to the lowland forests of Lord Howe Island, east of Australia. Description It was a mainly green bird, around 7.6 cm long, with a white belly and yellow throat, which separated it from other species of white-eye. The robust white-eye built loosely constructed, cup-shaped nests out of palm fibre and dried grasses, which were sometimes found in shrubs overgrown with vines. This made the species vulnerable to predation by black rats (''Rattus rattus''), which were accidentally introduced in 1918 following the grounding of the steamship S.S. ''Makambo'' on the island. Although once common, the bird was extinct by 1923. Despite its small size, the bird was known to islanders as "big grinnell", to differentiate it from the much smaller but related "little grinnell", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart. He has been considered the father of bird study in Australia and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Gould's work is referenced in Charles Darwin's book, ''On the Origin of Species''. Early life Gould was born in Lyme Regis, the first son of a gardener. Both father and son probably had little education. After working on Dowager Lady Poulett's glass house, his father obtained a position on an estate near Guildford, Surrey, and then in 1818, Gould Snr became foreman in the Royal Gardens of Windsor. Gould th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SS Makambo
SS ''Makambo'' was a steamship first owned by Burns Philp & Co. Ltd. She was built in Port Glasgow in Scotland and named after an island in the Solomon Islands. She carried both passengers and cargo and was principally used on routes between eastern Australia and islands in Melanesia and the Tasman Sea. In November 1908 Jack and Charmian London travelled from Guadalcanal to Sydney on the ''Makambo'' after abandoning their ill-fated circumnavigation of the world on the ''Snark'', a 45' sailing yawl. Between 1910 and 1931, she travelled a regular route between Sydney and Port Vila in the New Hebrides, with stops at Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. On 1 August 1921, the ''Makambos captain sent, by radio, the first report that flotsam from the missing cargo steamer SS ''Canastota'' had washed ashore at Lord Howe Island. She was acquired in 1939 by Okada Gumi KK of Osaka, Japan, and renamed ''Kainan Maru''. She was torpedoed and sunk on 12 June 1944 by the British sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Described In 1855
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct Birds Of Lord Howe Island
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 recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, mam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Birds Of Australia
This article is one of a series providing information about endemism among birds in the world's various zoogeographic zones. For an overview of this subject see Endemism in birds. Patterns of endemism Family-level endemism is prominent in Australia. The Australasian biogeographic region has the highest number of endemic families of any zoogeographic region except the Neotropics, and many of these families are endemic to Australia itself — the country therefore stakes a strong claim to be the world's greatest hotspot of bird endemism. Australian endemic and near-endemic families The Australian endemic families are: * Emu (Dromaiidae), a well-known monotypic family; the emu is found in rural areas throughout the continent * Plains-wanderer (Pedionomidae), a monotypic family; plains-wanderer is restricted to arid inland areas in the southeast of Australia * Lyrebirds (Menuridae), two forest-dwelling species of southeast Australia * Scrub-birds (Atrichornithidae), two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zosterops
''Zosterops'' (meaning "eye-girdle") is a genus of passerine birds containing the typical white-eyes in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. The genus has the largest number of species in the white-eye family. They occur in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms. Typical white-eyes have a length of between . Their most characteristic feature is a conspicuous white feather ring around the eye, though some species lack it. The species in this group vary in the structural adaptations of the tongue. The ''Zosterops'' 'griseotinctus''group is an example of a "great speciator" inhabiting a vast area and showing a remarkable morphological differentiation on islands, some of which maybe as close as apart. Systematics The genus ''Zosterops'' was introduced by the naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827. The name combines the Ancient Greek words ''zōstēros'' "belt" or "girdle" and ''ōpos'' "eye". The type species was designated as the Malagasy white-e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silvereye
The silvereye or wax-eye (''Zosterops lateralis'') is a very small omnivorous passerine bird of the south-west Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes white-eye, but this name is more commonly used to refer to all members of the genus '' Zosterops'', or the entire family Zosteropidae. In New Zealand, the silvereye was first recorded in 1832. It arrived in greater numbers in 1856, and it is assumed that a migrating flock was swept eastwards by a storm. As an apparently self-introduced bird it is protected as a native New Zealand species. Its Māori name, , means "stranger" or more literally, "new arrival". Taxonomy The silvereye was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name ''Sylvia lateralis''. There are 17 subspecies: * ''Z. l. chlorocephalus'' A. J. Campbell & S. A. White, 1910 ( Capricorn silvereye)– Capricorn and Bunker Group, central Queensland, Australia * ''Z. l. chloronotus'' Gould, 1841 ( w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord Howe Silvereye
The Lord Howe silvereye (''Zosterops lateralis tephropleurus''), also known as the Lord Howe white-eye, Lord Howe Island white-eye or, locally, as the "Little Grinnell", is a small bird in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. It is a subspecies of the silvereye (''Zosterops lateralis''), though sometimes considered a full species. It is endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, part of New South Wales, Australia. Description The Lord Howe silvereye is sometimes treated as a full species. It differs from the nominate subspecies by being more robust, with larger feet and claws, a longer and heavier bill, with much olive-green on flanks, rump and lower back, and with canary yellow under-tail coverts. Distribution and habitat The Lord Howe silvereye is restricted to Lord Howe Island, where it widely distributed through the native subtropical rainforest as well as around homes and gardens. Behaviour Breeding The bird builds a small cup-shaped nest of palm fibre, grass and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 now found worldwide. The black rat is black to light brown in colour with a lighter underside. It is a generalist omnivore and a serious pest to farmers because it feeds on a wide range of agricultural crops. It is sometimes kept as a pet. In parts of India, it is considered sacred and respected in the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke. Taxonomy ''Mus rattus'' was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the black rat. Three subspecies were once recognized, but today are considered invalid and are now known to be actually color morphs: *''Rattus rattus rattus'' – roof rat *''Rattus rattus alexandrinus'' – Alexandrine rat *''Rattus rattus frugivorus'' – fruit rat Characteristics A typical adult black rat is long ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cup Nest
A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American robin or Eurasian blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the Montezuma oropendola or the village weaver—that is too restrictive a definition. For some species, a nest is simply a shallow depression made in sand; for others, it is the knot-hole left by a broken branch, a burrow dug into the ground, a chamber drilled into a tree, an enormous rotting pile of vegetation and earth, a shelf made of dried saliva or a mud dome with an entrance tunnel. The smallest bird nests are those of some hummingbirds, tiny cups which can be a mere across and high. At the other extreme, some nest mounds built by the dusky scrubfowl measure more than in diameter and stand nearly tall. The study of birds' nests is known as ''caliology''. Not all bird species bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zosterops Strenuus
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 endemic to the lowland forests of Lord Howe Island, east of Australia. Description It was a mainly green bird, around 7.6 cm long, with a white belly and yellow throat, which separated it from other species of white-eye. The robust white-eye built loosely constructed, cup-shaped nests out of palm fibre and dried grasses, which were sometimes found in shrubs overgrown with vines. This made the species vulnerable to predation by black rats (''Rattus rattus''), which were accidentally introduced in 1918 following the grounding of the steamship S.S. ''Makambo'' on the island. Although once common, the bird was extinct by 1923. Despite its small size, the bird was known to islanders as "big grinnell", to differentiate it from the much smaller but related "little grinnell", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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