Campbell snipe

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Campbell snipe
Campbell Island Snipe.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Coenocorypha
Species:
Subspecies:
C. a. perseverance
Trinomial name
Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance
Miskelly & Baker, 2010 [1]
Campbell snipe (Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance) on the boardwalk of Campbell Island, February 2017. Campbell snipe.jpg
Campbell snipe (Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance) on the boardwalk of Campbell Island, February 2017.

The Campbell snipe (Coenocorypha aucklandica perseverance), also known as the Campbell Island snipe, is a rare subspecies of the Subantarctic snipe, endemic to Campbell Island, a subantarctic island south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean. It was not formally described until January 2010. [1] The subspecific name alludes to the name of the sealing brig Perseverance, captained by Frederick Hasselborough, that discovered Campbell Island in 1810, and which probably inadvertently introduced rats to the island when it was wrecked there in 1828. [2]

Contents

History

The existence of the Campbell snipe was unknown until 1997 when, during a search for the Campbell teal, there was the chance discovery of a small population on an almost inaccessible rock, Jacquemart Island. Thus there is not much information about it and it remains one of the least known birds in the world. [3]

Austral snipe are extinct on the mainland of New Zealand but continue to survive on several subantarctic islands. A naturalist landed on Campbell island in 1840 and whilst there found no birds to be present: all endemic land birds had been destroyed by rats from shipwrecks in the area (in the mid-19th century). By 2001 the rats on Campbell Island had been eradicated (the largest eradication of rats as a conservation effort in the world) and it was hoped that the snipe would naturally return to their original home. [3]

In 2006 BDG Synthesis funded a search effort on Campbell Island. Snipe expert Dr Colin Miskelly, and James Fraser with a snipe dog, surveyed the island for snipe to see if they had re-established on the main island. They also intended to acquire DNA for analysis and comparison with the extinct mainland species. The snipe had already re-established with a population of about 30 individuals. This news was greeted with relief as it was thought that the species would have to be re-introduced from Jacquemart Island through human intervention. However, no intervention has been necessary as the snipe are naturally repopulating the 11,000-hectare pest-free island. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auckland Islands</span> Volcanic archipelago of New Zealands subantarctic islands

The Auckland Islands are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying 465 kilometres (290 mi) south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying 510 km2 (200 sq mi), is surrounded by smaller Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Ewing Island, Rose Island, Dundas Island, and Green Island, with a combined area of 626 km2 (240 sq mi). The islands have no permanent human inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auckland Island</span> Island off Southern New Zealand

Auckland Island is the main island of the eponymous uninhabited archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the New Zealand subantarctic area. It is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list together with the other New Zealand Subantarctic Islands in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campbell Island, New Zealand</span> Island in New Zealand

Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku is an uninhabited subantarctic island of New Zealand, and the main island of the Campbell Island group. It covers 112.68 square kilometres (43.51 sq mi) of the group's 113.31 km2 (43.75 sq mi), and is surrounded by numerous stacks, rocks and islets like Dent Island, Folly Island, Isle de Jeanette-Marie, and Jacquemart Island, the latter being the southernmost extremity of New Zealand. The island is mountainous, rising to over 500 metres (1,640 ft) in the south. A long fiord, Perseverance Harbour, nearly bisects it, opening out to sea on the east coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacquemart Island</span> Island in New Zealand

Jacquemart Island, one of the islets surrounding Campbell Island in New Zealand, lies 1 km south of Campbell Island and is the southernmost island of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campbell Islands</span> Group of subantarctic South Pacific islands, administered by New Zealand

The Campbell Islands are a group of subantarctic islands, belonging to New Zealand. They lie about 600 km south of Stewart Island. The islands have a total area of 113.31 km2 (43.75 sq mi), consisting of one big island, Campbell Island, and several small islets, notably Dent Island, Isle de Jeanette Marie, Folly Island, Jacquemart Island, and Monowai Island. Ecologically, they are part of the Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion. The islands are one of five subantarctic island groups collectively designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enderby Island</span> Island of the New Zealand-administered Auckland group in the subantarctic South Pacific

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subantarctic snipe</span> Species of bird

The Subantarctic snipe is a species of snipe endemic to New Zealand's subantarctic islands. The Maori call it "Tutukiwi". The nominate race C. a. aucklandica is found on the Auckland Islands. Other subspecies include C. a. meinertzhagenae from the Antipodes Islands, and C. a. perseverance from Campbell Island. The former subspecies from the Snares Islands has been separated as a full species, the Snares snipe, as have the extinct South Island and North Island snipes.

An ecological island is a term used in New Zealand, and increasingly in Australia, to refer to an area of land isolated by natural or artificial means from the surrounding land, where a natural micro-habitat exists amidst a larger differing ecosystem. In New Zealand the term is used to refer to one of several types of nationally protected areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austral snipe</span> Genus of birds

The austral snipes, also known as the New Zealand snipes or tutukiwi, are a genus, Coenocorypha, of tiny birds in the sandpiper family, which are now only found on New Zealand's outlying islands. There are currently three living species and six known extinct species, with the Subantarctic snipe having three subspecies, including the Campbell Island snipe discovered as recently as 1997. The genus was once distributed from Fiji, New Caledonia and Norfolk Island, across New Zealand and southwards into New Zealand's subantarctic islands, but predation by introduced species, especially rats, has drastically reduced their range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey-backed storm petrel</span> Species of bird

The grey-backed storm petrel is a species of seabird in the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is monotypic within the genus Garrodia. It is found in Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Falkland Islands, French Southern Territories, New Zealand, Saint Helena, South Africa, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Its natural habitat is open seas. It is highly attracted to bright lights, especially in conditions of low visibility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey-faced petrel</span> Species of bird

The grey-faced petrel is a petrel endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. In New Zealand it is also known by its Māori name ōi and as a muttonbird.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hakawai (mythology)</span> Bird in Māori mythology

Hakawai, also Hokioi in the North Island, was to the New Zealand Māori people, a mythological bird that was sometimes heard but not usually seen. It is now associated with the nocturnal aerial displays made by Coenocorypha snipe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Folly Island, New Zealand</span> Subantarctic South Pacific island

Folly Island or the Folly Islands is a subantarctic island located in New Zealand's Campbell Island group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snares snipe</span> Species of bird

The Snares snipe, also known as the Snares Island snipe, or tutukiwi in Māori, is a species of bird in the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae.

The South Island snipe, also known as the Stewart Island snipe or tutukiwi in Māori, is an extinct species of bird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae that was endemic to New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Island snipe</span> Extinct species of bird

The North Island snipe, also known as the little barrier snipe or tutukiwi, is an extinct species of bird in the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae, that was endemic to New Zealand.

The Antipodes snipe, also known as the Antipodes Island snipe, is an isolated subspecies of the Subantarctic snipe that is endemic to the Antipodes Islands, a subantarctic island group south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auckland snipe</span> Subspecies of bird

The Auckland snipe, also known as the Auckland Island snipe, is a small bird in the sandpiper family. It is the isolated nominate subspecies of the subantarctic snipe that is endemic to the Auckland Islands, a subantarctic island group south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Island saddleback</span> Species of bird endemic to the North Island of New Zealand

The North Island saddleback is a forest-dwelling passerine bird species endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It was once considered conspecific with the South Island saddleback. The IUCN lists the species as Near Threatened, while it is listed as a "recovering" species in the New Zealand Threat Classification System. Saddlebacks are known in Māori as tīeke.

References

  1. 1 2 Miskelly & Baker (2010a, b).
  2. DOC media release (2010).
  3. 1 2 3 Miskelly & Fraser (2006).

Bibliography