| Guam flycatcher/ Guam broadbill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Specimen in Mount Santa Rosa | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Monarchidae |
| Genus: | Myiagra |
| Species: | †M. freycineti |
| Binomial name | |
| †Myiagra freycineti Oustalet, 1881 | |
| Synonyms | |
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The Guam flycatcher (Myiagra freycineti), or Guam broadbill, is an extinct species of bird in the family Monarchidae formerly endemic to Guam. [1] [2]
Some authorities consider the Guam flycatcher to have been a subspecies of the Oceanic flycatcher. [3] It has also been considered conspecific with the Pohnpei flycatcher and Palau flycatcher. [4] It was locally known as the chuguangguang. Alternate names for the Guam flycatcher include Guam Myiagra, Guam Myiagra flycatcher, Marianne Islands flycatcher, Micronesian broadbill, and Micronesian Myiagra.[ citation needed ]
The Guam flycatcher was a small bird measuring 5 inches (13 cm) long with different coloration for the males and females. Males were glossy blue-black above while females were brownish-gray. Both had white below and buff coloration on the breast. It had a wide bill with long "whiskers" which helped it locate its food.[ citation needed ]
The bird was secretive and occurred mainly in limestone and ravine forests. Although common on Guam as recently as the early 1970s, the flycatcher's population went into a rapid decline due to predation by the brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis, which was accidentally introduced to the island in the 1940s. The last sighting of the flycatcher occurred in the Santa Rosa area in 1983. [5]
Given the small size of the island, the complete absence of recent sightings, and the universal presence of the brown tree snake in the bird's former habitat, the Guam flycatcher is considered extinct. [2] [4]
The brown tree snake, also known as the brown catsnake, is an arboreal rear-fanged colubrid snake native to eastern and northern coastal Australia, eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and many islands in northwestern Melanesia. The snake is slender, in order to facilitate climbing, and can reach up to 2 meters in length. Its coloration may also vary, some being brown, green, or even red. Brown tree snakes prey on many things, ranging from invertebrates to birds, and even some smaller mammals. It is one of the very few colubrids found in Australia, where elapids are more common. Due to an accidental introduction after the events of World War II, this snake is now infamous for being an invasive species responsible for extirpating the majority of the native bird population in Guam. Currently, efforts are being made to reduce and control the population on Guam and prevent the snake from spreading to other locations.
The restless flycatcher or restless myiagra is a passerine bird in the family Monarchidae; it is also known as the razor grinder or scissors grinder because of its distinctive call. It is a native of eastern and southern Australia. Populations in New Guinea and northern Australia, which were at one time considered to be a subspecies, are now accepted as a separate species, the paperbark flycatcher. It is a small to medium-sized bird and has similar colouring to the willie wagtail.
The Guam kingfisher, called sihek in Chamorro, is a species of kingfisher from the United States Territory of Guam. It is restricted to a captive breeding program following its extinction in the wild due primarily to predation by the introduced brown tree snake.
The golden white-eye is a species of bird in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. It is the only species within the genus Cleptornis. The golden white-eye was once considered to be a honeyeater in the family Meliphagidae and although it is now known to be a white-eye, its position within that family is still uncertain. The species is restricted to the islands of Saipan and Aguijan in the Northern Mariana Islands, where it is sympatric and competes with the related bridled white-eye. The golden white-eye has golden plumage and a pale eye-ring. It feeds on insects, fruit, and nectar and forages in pairs or small family groups. The bird is monogamous and lays two eggs in a small cup nest.
Eurylaimus is a genus of broadbills found in Southeast Asia.
The Samoan flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Samoa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and rural gardens and is threatened by habitat loss.
Myiagra is a genus of passerine birds in the family Monarchidae, the monarch flycatchers, native to Australasia, sometimes referred to as the broad-billed flycatchers or simply broadbills.
The azure-crested flycatcher or the blue-crested flycatcher, is a species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Fiji, where it is found on Taveuni.
The Melanesian flycatcher is a species of bird in the monarch-flycatcher family Monarchidae. The species is found on islands in Melanesia.
The Palau flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Palau.
The Chuuk flycatcher, formerly sometimes known as the oceanic flycatcher, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Micronesia and can be found on the Caroline Islands. The diversity of traits in the Oceanic flycatchers resulted from three waves of colonization in non-overlapping times, which led to situ specification events on Micronesian islands.
The Pohnpei flycatcher, known as Koikoi in Pohnpeian, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Micronesia and can be found on the Caroline Islands.
The leaden flycatcher is a species of passerine bird in the family Monarchidae. Around 15 cm (6 in) in length, the male is lustrous azure with white underparts, while the female possesses leaden head, mantle and back and rufous throat and breast. It is found in eastern and northern Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forests in the northern parts of its range, in the south and inland it is eucalypt woodland.
The Vanikoro flycatcher is a species of monarch flycatcher in the family Monarchidae. It has a slightly disjunct distribution, occurring on Vanikoro island and in Fiji.
The bridled white-eye is a species of white-eye native to the Mariana Islands and formerly Guam. The species' natural habitat is tropical forests, shrublands and urban areas.
The paperbark flycatcher, also known as the little restless flycatcher, is a passerine bird in the family Monarchidae. It occurs in tropical woodland and riverine habitats of northern Australia and southern New Guinea. Previously, some authorities lumped the paperbark flycatcher as a distinctive subspecies of the restless flycatcher of southern and eastern Australia, with which it forms a superspecies.
The Marianas tropical dry forests is a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregion on the Marianas Islands in the western Pacific Ocean.
As with a number of other geographically isolated islands, Guam has problems with invasive species negatively affecting the natural biodiversity of the island.
