Australian Birds - Brown Gerygone

Lord Howe island is a distinct terrestrial ecoregion, known as the Lord Howe Island subtropical forests. It is part of the Australasia ecozone, and shares many biotic affinities with Australia, New Guinea, and New Caledonia. Lord Howe Island was never part of a continent, and all of its flora and fauna colonized the island from across the sea. Almost half of the island's native plants are endemic. One of the best known is Howea, an endemic genus of palms (Arecaceae) that are commonly known as kentia palms and make handsome houseplants. Several million are exported annually providing the only major industry on the island apart from tourism. Another endemic feature of the island are the Glowing Mushrooms, that can be seen after heavy rain. Found in the Palm forests, they can be picked and last for a number of days glowing. The glow is so bright that you can read by it in the dark. 14 species of seabirds and 18 species of landbirds breed on the island group, including an endemic species, the Lord Howe Woodhen (Gallirallus sylvestris) and 3 endemic subspecies, the Lord Howe Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis contempta), the Lord Howe White-eye (Zosterops lateralis tephropleurus) and the Lord Howe Currawong (Strepera graculina crissalis). A number of endemic bird species and subspecies have become extinct since the arrival of humans on the island. The Lord Howe Swamphen or White Gallinule (Porphyrio albus), the White-throated Pigeon (Columba vitiensis godmanae), Red-fronted Parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae subflavescens) and the Tasman Booby (Sula tasmani) were eliminated by settlers during the nineteenth century. The accidental introduction of the Black Rat in the 1918 shipwreck of the Makambo triggered a second wave of extinctions including the Vinous-tinted Thrush (Turdus poliocephalus vinitinctus), the Robust White-eye (Zosterops strenuus) and the Lord Howe Starling (Alponis fusca hulliana), the Lord Howe Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa cervina) and the Lord Howe Gerygone (Gerygone insularis). Only one native mammal remains on the islands, the Large Forest Bat (Eptesicus sagittula). The endemic bat species (Nyctophilus howensis) is known only from a skull and is now presumed extinct. The cause of its extinction may have been predation by Masked Owl, introduced to the island in the 1920s to control rats. The Masked Owl may also have caused the extinction of the Lord Howe Boobook (Ninox novaeseelandiae albaria). Two terrestrial reptiles are native to the island group: the skink (Leiolopisma lichenigera)) and the gecko (Phyllodactylus guentheri). Both are rare on the main island but more common on smaller islands offshore. The skink (Lampropholis delicata) and the Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria dentata) have been accidentally introduced from the Australian mainland in recent years. The Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) disappeared from the main island soon after the introduction of Black rats. In 2001 a tiny population was discovered in a single (Melaleuca howeana) shrub on the slopes of Ball's Pyramid. Another endemic invertebrate, the Lord Howe Placostylus, has also been affected by the introduction of the black rat. Once common, the species is now endangered and a captive breeding program is under way to save the snail from extinction. Over 400 fish species are found in the waters around Lord Howe including 9 endemic to the region. Over 80 species of coral occur in the reefs surrounding the islands. About 10 percent of Lord Howe Island's forests have been cleared for agriculture, and another 20 percent has been disturbed by domestic cattle and feral sheep, goats, and pigs. Despite a large number of introduced species that harm Lord Howe's native flora and fauna, goats have recently been eliminated from the island, the feral pig population has been reduced, and there are ongoing efforts to control rats, mice, and introduced plants. A recovery program has restored the Lord Howe Woodhen numbers from only 20 in 1970 to approximately 200.