Extinct and extirpated birds from Aitutaki and Atiu, Southern Cook Islands / by David W. Steadman

Abstract

Six archaeological sites up to 1000years old on Aitutaki, Cook Islands, have yielded bones of 15speciesof birds, five of which no longer occur ontheisland: Pterodromarostrata(Tahiti Petrel);Sula sula(Red-footedBooby); Dendrocygna,undescribedsp.(alarge,extinctwhistlingduck); Porzanatabuensis (Sooty Crake); and Vini kuhlii (Rimatara Lorikeet). Of these, only S. sula and P. tabuensis survive anywhere in the CookIslands today.The nearest record of anyspecies ofDendrocygnaisinFiji.Asidefrom theaquaticspeciesEgrettasacra (Pacific Reef-Heron) and Anas superciliosa (Gray Duck), the only native, resident land bird on Aitutakitoday isthe SocietyIslands Lorikeet(Viniperuviana), which may have been introduced from Tahiti. Residents ofAitutaki note that Ducula pacifica (Pacific Pigeon) and Ptilinopus rarotongensis (Cook Islands Fruit-Dove)also occurredthere until the 1940sor 1950s.There isno indigenous forest on Aitutaki today. The bones from Aitutaki also include the island's first record of the fruit batPteropus tonganus. Limestone caveson the island of Atiu yieldedthe undated bones of sixspeciesof birds, three of which no longer exist there or anywhere elsein the Cook Islands: Gallicolumba erythroptera (Society Islands Ground-Dove),Ducula aurorae (SocietyIslands Pigeon),and Vinikuhlii. Each of these specieshas been recovered from prehistoric sites on Mangaia as well. The limestone terrain of Atiu is mostly covered with native forest that supports populations of Ducula pacifica, Ptilinopus rarotongensis, Collocalia sawtelli(Atiu Swiftlet), and Halcyon tuta (Chattering Kingfisher). The survival of these land birds depends upon protection of Atiu's forests.