Critically Endangered
Pohnpei Starling
Aplonis pelzelni
The Pohnpei starling, also known as Pohnpei mountain starling or Ponape mountain starling, is an extremely rare or possibly extinct bird from the family of starlings (Sturnidae).
Appearance
It was generally dark with sooty brown upperparts. The wings, rump, uppertail coverts and tail were paler and showed a stronger brown coloring at the head. The underparts were washed olive brown.
The Pohnpei starling reached a size of 19 cm.
Range and habitat
The Pohnpei starling was native to dark, damp mountain forests in altitudes above 425 m, but it was also observed at lower altitudes. The Pohnpei starling, also known as Pohnpei mountain starling or Ponape mountain starling, is an extremely rare or possibly extinct bird from the family of starlings (Sturnidae). It is (or was) endemic to the island of Pohnpei (Federated States of Micronesia) in the Pacific Ocean.
It was called "sie" (pronounced see-ah) by the Pohnpei islanders. After several unconfirmed reports by Pohnpei islanders there were surveys in 1976, 1977, and 1983 that unfortunately failed.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
It was a non-migratory bird and defended its territory in pairs. It foraged diurnally and its diet consisted of flowers, berries and seeds of evergreen bushes and trees as well as insects and maggots.
Reports that it has built its nest in tree holes are unconfirmed.
In crisis
In 1990 it was classified as extinct by the IUCN, but on 4 July 1995 ornithologist Donald W. Therefore, the IUCN has reclassified it as critically endangered in 2000. The reasons for its vanishing remained unknown.
Habitat loss might have played a minor role because even if 37% of the highland forests were cleared between 1975 and 1995, a large part of its habitat still remains.
Pohnpei Starling is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Pohnpei Starling, Wikidata item Q977951. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
