Nightingale Island Finch Nesospiza questi Scientific name definitions

16–18 cm; 24–29 g. Male has face and lores pale grey, rest of head  and upperparts yellow-olive, finely streaked dark brown (mainly on crown and mantle); flight-feathers grey-brown, fringed yellow-olive; yellow-olive below , brightest on throat; iris dark brown; bill and legs dark grey to blackish. Differs from <em>N. wilkinsi</em> mainly in appreciably smaller size and much smaller bill  . Female is on average slightly smaller than male, also duller and slightly more streaked. Juvenile and immature resemble female, but are buffy brown and more heavily streaked.

Nightingale I, including offshore islets of Alex (Middle) and Stoltenhoff, in S Atlantic.

Throughout Nightingale and adjacent islets, from rocky shoreline to highest peaks. Most abundant in Spartina arundinacea tussock grassland and Scirpus-dominated areas around The Ponds (in centre of island).

Presumably resident.

Diet mainly seeds and berries; also some invertebrates. Forages on plants and on the ground.

Male advertises territory with high-pitched, sharp song, “whit-wheu whit-wheu...” repeated monotonously; female has subdued, querulous whistle. Both sexes give a chipping contact call  , also alarm call when skua (Catharacta) appears.

Little known. Breeds in Nov–Jan. Nest an open cup, built low down among dense vegetation, usually sedges (Cyperaceae) or grasses, occasionally among ferns. Clutch 1–2 eggs (report of 4–5 eggs in a clutch almost certainly erroneous), light blue, finely speckled dark brown. No other information.

VULNERABLE. Restricted-range species: present in Tristan Islands EBA. Abundant; global range tiny, c. 4 km². Total population estimated at no more than c. 5000 pairs, of which at least 4000 pairs on main island; no evidence of decline in numbers. Although this species is very numerous within its extremely small range, and is thought not currently to be declining, the possible arrival of invasive species could rapidly result in steep decline in its numbers, potentially leading to extinction within a short period. With arrival of several motorized boats on Tristan, Nightingale I has been visited more frequently by other islanders, increasing risk of accidental introduction of mammalian predators such as rats and mice (Muridae) and other invasive species.