New Zealand Bittern
Black back - bittern ( males and young males )
The black back - Little Bittern ( Ixobrychus novaezelandiae ), referred to in the Maori language as Kaoriki, is an extinct species of bird in the heron family. She was at times as subspecies of the Little Bittern ( Ixobrychus minutus). Its distribution area encompassed New Zealand and the Chatham Islands.
Features
The black back - bittern should have seen the little bittern very similar. However, it was bigger, her legs were robust and their plumage was more lively striped and colored maroon. The height was 38 cm and weight about 250 grams.
Occurrence
Most observations of live specimens were on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island, where, among other things, an individual on Lake Wakatipu was collected. In the North Island there was in 1836 a possible observation of the region of Tauranga. Otherwise, the Black Bittern back from the North Island is only known from subfossil remains from fossil deposits at Lake Poukawa and from the region of Paekakariki. More bone was discovered on the Chatham Islands.
Habitat and behavior
Little is known about her life. The researcher Charles Douglas described it as a very shy bird, which could well hide in inaccessible swamps. The black back - bittern occurred in coastal lagoons and stream banks. The researcher William Docherty noted that these solitary birds, stretched his head up, deliberately surveyed the water for hours and remained at one place. This almost upright posture is a Tarnverhalten, which is also observed in other Dommelarten. The diet consisted of worms and small fish.
Extinction
The extinction of the black back - bittern is probably due to predation by Pacific rats, brown rats, black rats, ferrets, stoats, weasels and feral cats. The bone was found in a midden at Paekakariki, is an indication that the black back - Little Bittern was also hunted by humans. She was already before 1860 as rare and probably died from in the 1890s. Today there are 13 preserved specimens, an incomplete skeleton and eight subfossil bones in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.