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www.culture.gov.ck | (062) 20725 | culture@cookislands.gov.ck
The Mysterious Starling or Mauke Starling (Aplonis mavornata) was a species of starling found on Mauke.
This bird is now extinct. http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org/species.asp?id=8293
The only known specimen (BMNH Old Vellum Catalog 12.192) was shot “hopping about on a tree” by Andrew Bloxam, naturalist of the HMS Blonde, roughly between 2.30 and 3.30 PM on August 9, 1825.
The island was not visited again by ornithologists until 1973, by which time the bird was extinct, presumably due to predation by introduced rats.
To read more go to : The Mysterious Starling of Mauke
