Wiped Out from Existence: 15 Extinct Bird Species

The dodo was a flightless bird that uniquely inhabited the island of Mauritius found in the Indian Ocean. The dodo was said to be related to pigeons and doves and was described as being around 3.3 feet tall and weighing about 20 kg. In 1598, Dutch sailors came across these flightless birds in the island and immediately saw its potential for meat, as they were starving by the time they reached land. It was hunted to extinction for its meat that wasn’t that great in terms of taste. Nevertheless by 1681, the hungry Dutch sailors had contributed a big portion in its extinction, barely leaving a single sign of the dodo’s existence. Because of lack of any clue that may suggest its existence, it was left forgotten as a mythical creature. This remained as such until the 19^th century, when research was conducted on some of the last surviving species that had been taken to Europe. From then on, some remains and fossils of dodos were discovered in Mauritius.

The Tasmanian Emu is one of the subspecies of the flightless bird emu. They were distinguished from the other Emu species by their whitish and featherless throats. Although the Tasmanian Emu was reportedly smaller than the mainland emus, the external features and height of the birds were said to have been found in traces of the other Emu species. It was found in Tasmania where it gradually separated from the mainland Emu during the Pleistocene (126,000 to 5,000 years ago when much of the word was dominated by glaciations). In contrast to most extinct species, the Tasmanian Emu was not threatened to extinction by an already small population size in fact, these birds existed in fairly sizeable numbers. The Emus were mostly hunted down and killed as pests. Aside from that, grassland fires also contributed in wiping out this subspecies of Emus. Even though it is said that a few of these birds survived in captivity until the late 1873, by 1850's no certain sightings of the Tasmanian Emu were recorded.

The Carolina Parakeet was a colorful bird species and only parrot species found in North America. Specifically, resident to the coastal plains of Alabama, the Carolina Parakeets often migrated in large flocks to Ohio, Iowa, Illinois and the areas of eastern United States. It is described as a small bird weighing only about 280 grams and standing at about 12 inches. The Carolina Parakeet was posed to various threats, the biggest one being deforestation that destroyed their natural habitats, making them homeless. Soon when the forests were completely cleared out to create space for agriculture, some farmers shot these birds, considering them as pests that may attack their crops. These birds were very noisy and often moved in flocks. The Carolina Parakeets had a habit of immediately going to the rescue of wounded birds whose cries could be heard over a mile away. This unfortunately led into the shooting of numerous flocks by farmers and hunters, also leading to gradual extinction. This bird species was also famous for its colorful feathers that were used for many decoration purposes. In the 1930's several unrecorded sightings of the Carolina Parakeet were reported in places like Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. Although how the last of the Carolina species came to be extinct is still unknown, credit still goes to the numerous shootings and killings which severely reduced the numbers of this bird.

Suggested by its name, this species of ostriches was found in the desert plains of Arabia around the Syrian Desert, regions of today's Jordan, Israel and Kuwait. Also known as the Middle Eastern Ostrich, this species is said to have been related to the North African or Red Necked ostrich by recent DNA studies. However, the Arabian ostrich is said to differ from the North African ostrich by its relatively smaller size and the females have lighter colored bodies. It was popular in ancient Mesopotamia, where it was used for sacrifices and it is shown in various paintings and artwork. Since it was a symbol of wealth, rich Arabian nobles popularly hunted this bird as a sort of sport and it was famous for its meat, eggs and feathers that were used for making crafts. The Arabian ostrich became endangered in the period of World War 1. In this period, the use of rifles and automobiles made it possible to hunt the ostriches, sometimes just for entertainment. The species rapidly began to shrink and by the Second World War in the late 19th century, there were no recorded sightings of the Arabian ostriches. Some of the last recorded sightings of the Arabian ostrich include; in 1928, where it was seen around the borders of Jordan and Iraq, in 1941, where an ostrich was shot for its meat by some pipeline workers in Bahrain and finally, in 1966 where a dying female ostrich was spotted in Jordan at a mouth of Wadi el-Hasa, probably washed away by the flooding of River Jordan.

The Bachman’s Warbler was first discovered by John Bachman, as early as 1832, in South Carolina. This migratory bird was described as being the smallest of any other known warbler. It was identified by its distinct appearance; gray colored wings and tail, yellow belly and the backside and head are a bright olive color. The males were a shade darker than the females.

Man’s influence played a major role in the extinction of the Bachman’s Warbler. Since the Bachman’s warbler built its nests in small edges of bamboo canebrakes in wetlands, it was easily destroyed by swamp reclamation and destruction of forestland, which were major causes of the Bachman warbler’s extinction. Other causes of extinction were ravaging hurricanes and gathering of specimen for museums.

Although the extinction of the Bachman’s warbler has not yet been announced officially, none have been spotted since the 1960’s. The last sighting of this bird was in the western region of Cuba, in 1981.

The Great Auk was a large flightless species of penguins living in the North Atlantic rocky coasts and islands of the world and was believed to be in large numbers in the cold regions of Iceland, Greenland, Norway and Great Britain.It is depicted by the white fur on its belly, its black back and a thick hooked beak. The Great Auk was about 31 inches tall and weighing around 5 kg. Although the Great Auk was the only said species of genus Pinguinus to survive till recent times, it eventually became extinct in the middle of the 19th century due to excessive hunting. It was a source of food and also had a symbolic value to the Native Americans who buried the great auk bones together with the dead. Even the early Europeans who came to America hunted the Auks for food and used them as bait in fishing. Like most extinct species of birds, the Great Auk was hunted to extinction.

The Laysan rail was named after the Laysan Island, a small Hawaiian island that this particular type of rail was native to. Discovered in 1828 by sailors, the Laysan rail was a flightless bird that preyed on a wide range of food-from succulent leaves to moths and other invertebrates.

The Laysan rail was well-known for being a rather small sized bird- only 15 cm from beak to tail tip. It had a relatively lighter brown shade of coloration compared to the Baillon’s Crake, which is closely related to the Laysan Rail.

The extinction of the Laysan rail could have easily been forgone as the oceanic island was filled with a lot of fauna that flourished in the lush vegetation. But the extinction of the Laysan rail was inevitable due to the introduction of domestic rabbits. These rabbits had no predators and so they thrived in the island, feeding on the vegetation and grasses.

In 1891, the already endangered Laysan rail was supported when a colony of rails was imported and these birds prospered awhile on the island before ultimately dying out due to rat invasion and human influence. After this, numerous other efforts to continue the bird species had been set up, but all to no avail as the rails expired either due to storms or competition for food.

The last sighted Laysan rail was seen on Eastern Island, in June of 1944. The Laysan rail had a rough historical life of 116 years, the year 1944, being the last straw.

The Seychelles Parakeet inhabited the colony of islands in the Indian Ocean. Though it is named after Seychelles, which is the smallest island of Africa, it thrived in the abundant forests of the islands of Mahe and Silhoutte.

It was depicted by its general green plumage, with patches and stripes of blue on the wings, cheek and legs. The abdomen was a yellow green and the head, an emerald color. It is often described to resemble the Alexandrine parakeet, though smaller and without the pink colored stripe found in the collar.

Possibly thought to be a pest, the now extinct bird species were completely annihilated by severe killings by coconut plantation farmers.

Around the 1880’s, the last species of the Seychelles parrot were sighted and recorded. By the early 1900’s, none of the birds were sighted and the Seychelles parakeet was officially considered extinct.

The story of the now extinct passenger pigeon is one of the saddest extinct birds’ stories. This abundant bird species was wonderfully social and lived in great flocks. It largely inhabited the lush forests of North America before was wiped off the face of this earth in the early 20^th century.

The passenger pigeon was principally hunted down as a source of food especially when its meat was capitalized in the 19^th century as food for the poor slaves, brought in from Africa.Due to man’s intrusion of the forests in order to create space for industrialization, the friendly Passenger Pigeons were annihilated and their free luxuriant forestlands burned down.

The last actual Passenger Pigeon, named Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo, Ohio, in 1914. A song entitled “Martha; the Last of the Passenger Pigeons,” is dedicated to Martha, the last of the Passenger Pigeon species to live on this earth. She must have lived an extremely lonely life, with all her relatives forever gone.

The Mauritius blue pigeon, endemic to Mauritius Island, is a striking bird, with a pearly white elongated neck, a vivid red tail and velvety blue body. Possibly being an omnivore, it was said to feed on fresh water mollusks and fruit.

It was first described in 1602 and the Dutch sailors, who landed in Mauritius, were glad to have a change in diet from eating the unappetizing dodo meat. Thus, it was largely hunted and eaten, thereby greatly diminishing the numbers of these pigeons.

Other reasons for extinction include; the pigeons hunted as a source of food by refugee slaves, introduction of predators like the Crab-eating Macaques and destruction of the pigeon’s natural habitat.

By the 1830’s it was easy to conclude that the Mauritius Blue Pigeon had forever disappeared and would never be seen again.

The Stephen Island’s Wren was a flightless and nocturnal bird that roved the shrubbery and forestland of Stephen Island. Although this bird was found only on Stephen Island, it was believed to have been prehistorically widespread throughout New Zealand.

The Stephen’s Wren has quite an unbelievable story that tells of its extinction contributed by one single living thing - the lighthouse keeper’s cat, also known as Tibbles. Even though this particular cat did feed off the flesh of the Stephen Island’s Wren, it could not have annihilated the entire Wren species alone as there were other predator feral cats on the island. For this reason, the cause of extinction of the Stephen Island's Wren may be credited to the introduction of the feral cat population that was abundant in the island.

Already a rare species, the Labrador duck was a migratory bird that was possibly native to Coastal Labrador in Canada, which was supposedly its breeding ground. It frequently travelled to the southern regions of Long island and New Jersey in winter. The Labrador duck was described by its vivid black and white feathered body, for this reason, it was also known as the Skunk Duck.

By the 1850’s, the already few numbers of the Labrador duck were deteriorating and the last of the species was found in Long Island, New York in 1875 and the specimen was taken to the United States National Museum. The reasons for extinction of the Labrador duck are somewhat a mystery. Although it was hunted for food, the meat was rather unappetizing and wasn’t profitable.

The possible cause for extinction might have been the encroaching of man on the coastal ecology of North America. Man’s influence might have added harmful changes to the environment through water pollution or dumping of toxic wastes. These changes may have affected the snails and other mollusks that are food for the Labrador duck, thereby proving hazardous to the bird species as well.

The Ivory billed woodpecker was a huge bird-said to be the third largest in the world-that was resident to the forest regions of south-eastern United States.

Nearly at twenty inches in length and thirty inches of wingspan, this bird is or was said to be the largest bird in the United States. The ivory billed woodpecker is generally described as having a shiny blue coat, white markings on the neck and wings and a triangular red marking on the head. Its ivory colored bill is straight, long, flattened and hard-tipped.

The numbers of the Ivory billed wood pecker began dropping severely in the 1800’s due to habitat destruction. By the 20^th century, only a few countable numbers of this obscure bird species remained. No sightings had been recorded in the mid-20^th century and the ivory billed wood pecker was thought to have gone extinct. However, it appeared that the Ivory billed wood pecker was not totally through as it was rediscovered in 2005 in eastern Arkansas.

Up to now, it is still vague whether the Ivory billed woodpecker continues to exist or has been completely been wiped out.

Said to be extinct since 1835, the New Zealand quail thrived in temperate grasslands and open fern lands. This bird species was brought into the area as a game bird and was wide spread in the south and north islands but it the species existed in abundance in the South where there were ideal conditions.

The New Zealand Quail species became endangered and the bird population rapidly started decreasing until complete extinction in the 1870's. There are many causes of extinction of the New Zealand Quail, ranging from large fires, predation by wild dogs and the like and also some sources speculate that they may have been affected by the diseases brought in by the introduction of other game birds, possibly other quail species. The Australian brown quail was brought in to replace the extinct New Zealand Quail.

The Laughing Owl was a species of owl of the genus Sceloglaux, which means scoundrel owl, possibly referring to its malicious way of hooting.It was identified by its reddish brown plumage, with a white face and deep orange eyes. The Laughing Owl was about 36 cm tall, weighing 600 grams, with the males being of a relatively smaller size than the females.

Originating from New Zealand, the Laughing Owl was said to be in plenty by the time Europeans settlers landed in this island in 1840. Thereafter, it was hunted to gather specimens that were later sent to the British Museum. The exact reasons for extinction of the Laughing Owl are rather mysterious. But the invasion of Weasels and stouts might have brought in direct competition for food and thereby wiped out the bird species.

The Laughing Owl was popularly known for its crazy maniacal calls that echoed through the forests particularly on dark rainy nights.

The last sighting of the Laughing Owl was a dead specimen believed to have been found in Canterbury in 1914. But more and more unconfirmed sightings of the Laughing Owl have been reported; in the 1940’s a Laughing Owl was spotted in Pakahi near Opotiki, a town found in the North Island of New Zealand.

Another sighting was described in a book about a few American tourists camping out in the forests, when suddenly they’re shaken out of sleep and definitely scared beyond their wits by “a sound of a madman laughing” in the middle of the night. This may have been the last of the Laughing Owls lurking in the forests- you can never know for certain.