White-eyed Starling Aplonis brunneicapillus Scientific name definitions

Bougainville, Choiseul, Rendova and Guadalcanal, in Solomon Is.

VULNERABLE. Restricted range species: present in Solomon Group EBA. Rare and patchily distributed, with few recent records; poorly known. Total population estimated at fewer than 2500 mature individuals and believed declining. On Bougainville, single specimens taken in 1938 and 1944; colony of at least ten pairs in 1985, but not found two years later. Recorded at a single locality on Choiseul in 1994. On Rendova, one specimen taken in 1943 and records of two individuals in 1980s and some in 1990s. On Guadalcanal, 41 specimens collected in 1953 at Betilonga (in WC of island), but the species appears now to be extirpated there; a few recent records at Komarindi (in NW) and at Mt Austen (in N). Deforestation is increasing in Solomons, and most lowland forest and much hill forest throughout the species' range has been or is scheduled to be logged. No significant protected areas within its range; Mt Austen lies within the Queen Elizabeth National Park, but this is unprotected and highly degraded. In the past, local human inhabitants harvested nestlings for food, and this practice may continue.