STEPHENS ISLAND WREN

The Stephen’s Island Wren was a small flightless bird that lived on the small island called Stephens Island. Stephens Island is situated between the northern and southern halves of New Zealand.

Lighthouse of Stephens Island
Image from Wikipedia
This made Stephens Island an ideal location for a lighthouse.  David Lyall, the lighthouse keeper, moved onto Stephens Island to run the lighthouse in 1894.  He reported that the Stephens Island Wrens would run around the island like mice. 

Unfortunately for the Stephens Island Wrens, Mr. Lyall was lonely, so he brought his cat Tibbles to live with him.  Cats are an invasive species that can do a lot of damage to a population, but for the Stephens Island Wrens, one cat and one year was all it took to eliminate the entire species (though some sources say there may have been a few other feral cats there).

The Stephens Island Wren went extinct in 1895.

Additional Resources:

 http://www.arkive.org/stephens-island-wren/traversia-lyalli/

 http://terranature.org/wren.htm

 http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/stephenswren.html

 http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Commercial/Shipping-safety/Aids-to-navigation/Lighthouses-of-NZ/Stephens-island-lighthouse.asp


Mounted Stephens Island Wren
Image from arkive.org



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