New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles savesi Scientific name definitions

S New Caledonia. Not found in recent extensive surveys of appropriate habitat (1 Dutson, G. (2011). Birds of Melanesia: The Bismarcks, Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Restricted-range species: present in New Caledonia EBA. Known only from two specimens, a probable sighting in 1998 and a handful of unconfirmed reports. Until recently, no definite records since 1880, when the type specimen was collected – a bird that flew in through an open window of a house in the village of Tongué at the foot of Mount Koghue, S New Caledonia (2 Layard, E.L. and Layard, E.L.C. (1881). Notes on the avifauna of New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. Ibis. Ser. 4, no. 5: 132-139. Close ). Species was thought possibly extinct (3 King, W. B. ed. (1981). Endangered Birds of the World. The ICBP Bird Red Data Book. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Close ), ­although the paucity of ornithological work in New Caledonia still allowed hope that it might survive. However, in Nov 1998 a single bird was seen in the Ni-Kouakoue Reserve, S New Caledonia; despite subsequent searches during 4-month study, no further sightings (4 Ekstrom, J. M. M., J. P. G. Jones, J. Willis, J. Tobias, G. C. L. Dutson, and N. Barré (2002). New information on the distribution, status and conservation of terrestrial bird species in Grande Terre, New Caledonia. Emu 102(2):197–207. Close , 5 Tobias, J.A. and Ekstrom, J.M.M. (2002). The New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles savesi rediscovered? Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 122(4): 282–285. Close ). A second specimen, dated 1913 or 1915, came to light in 1999 (5 Tobias, J.A. and Ekstrom, J.M.M. (2002). The New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles savesi rediscovered? Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 122(4): 282–285. Close ) BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Aegotheles savesi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/12/2014. . A report of one being killed during 1960s by a hunter in the Païta region, not far from the type locality, has remained unconfirmed. The only other evidence of the species existence is provided by fossil deposits from a Late Quaternary cave c.65 km NW of Nouméa, near Boulouparis (6 Balouet, J.C. and Olson, S.L. (1989). Fossil birds from late Quaternary deposits in New Caledonia. Smithsonian Contrib. Zool.. 469: 1-38. Close , 5 Tobias, J.A. and Ekstrom, J.M.M. (2002). The New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles savesi rediscovered? Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 122(4): 282–285. Close ). Search efforts between 2002 and 2007, comprising c.500 person-days in the field, were fruitless; similarly 120 local interviews carried out between 2003 and 2006 produced no credible reports BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Aegotheles savesi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/12/2014. . Lack of sightings at known sites, despite prolonged field effort, suggest that species is probably rare and / or local (4 Ekstrom, J. M. M., J. P. G. Jones, J. Willis, J. Tobias, G. C. L. Dutson, and N. Barré (2002). New information on the distribution, status and conservation of terrestrial bird species in Grande Terre, New Caledonia. Emu 102(2):197–207. Close ). Given the lack of knowledge of the bird's ecology, threats are difficult to determine. However, rats are known predators of hole-nesting birds in French Polynesia (7 Seitre, R. and Seitre, J. (1992). Causes of land-bird extinctions in French Polynesia. Oryx. 26(4): 215–222. Close ) and the ecologically similar Australian Owlet-nightjar A. cristatus  suffers high rates of nest predation by mammals (8 Brigham, R.M. and Geiser, F. (1997). Breeding biology of Australian Owlet-nightjars Aegotheles cristatus in eucalypt woodland. Emu. 97(4): 316-321. Close ); it therefore seems likely that A. savesi has declined through predation by introduced rats and possibly cats. Habitat loss through fire, mining and logging may also be factors. First considered Endangered in 1994, then uplisted to Critically Endangered in 2000 BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Aegotheles savesi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/12/2014. . Further intensive field surveys should be conducted in order to determine the true conservation status of this species BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Aegotheles savesi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/12/2014. .