Fatuhiva Monarch Pomarea whitneyi Scientific name definitions

19 cm; 40 g. Large flycatcher with velvety feathers on forehead. Plumage is glossy purplish-black , blacker-looking on forehead; iris dark brown; bill greyish-blue; legs slate-coloured. Sexes alike. Immature is dull brown above, more rufous on the wings, buffy white below, with rufous tinge on face, neck and breast side.

Fatu Hiva, in Marquesas Is.

Food insects, including beetles (Coleoptera); also spiders (Aranea), and seeds. Recorded killing and eating a small gecko . Jumps from branch to branch in active searching for food among vegetation; gleans in manner of a gerygone (Gerygone). Rarely flycatches on the wing. The most shy and most retiring of the Marquesan monarchs.

No information. Birds with active gonads in Jan and Feb, and breeding likely to be Dec–Apr.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Restricted-range species: present in Marquesas Islands EBA. Extremely rare; almost extinct following arrival of black rats (Rattus rattus) in 2000, despite the lack of a wharf on the island. Population may have been declining prior to introduction of rats, as the monarch appeared not to be so widespread as it was in 1975 (had already disappeared from mango groves on slopes and ridges of Omoa valley). Total population occupies tiny (13 km²) range on Fatuhiva ; c. 65% of birds restricted to a region of just 2 km² in Omoa valley by 2011 BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Pomarea whitneyi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/07/2015. . In 2000, a decrease in the number of immatures recorded suggests poor breeding success. Population estimated at a few hundred pairs in 2000, with density of 1 pair/10 ha; another estimate gave 200 individuals. The species has been surveyed annually since 2002, with progressive decline evident: population of 919 individuals estimated in 2002 and 749 in 2003, but numbers uncertain in 2004 (when only five adults and one juvenile seen). Total population estimated to be as low as 67 individuals in 2009 and probably only c. 50 by 2012 BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Pomarea whitneyi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/07/2015. . This extremely rapid population decline exceeds 90% over 21 years (three generations) BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Pomarea whitneyi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/07/2015. . Population has been regularly checked since 1970s, and was still common in suitable habitat before rat invasion. From year 2002 onwards, financial support by Ministry of Tourism and Environment allowed preliminary evaluation of situation, and pilot operations to protect nests and to raise public awareness. Invasion of forest by non-native plant species also a concern, as implicated in the extinction of congeners, so strict quarantine measures desirable, assuming that the rat problem can be overcome before the monarch is lost for ever.