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Extinct Birds of the Cayman Islands

Paleontological digs in the caves of Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac have produced a fascinating fossil record for the islands. Some 62 species of vertebrates have been identified from these fossil remains. These old bones, which date from the Late Quaternary (last 700,000 years), indicate that the Cayman Islands once supported birds which are now extinct.

These prehistoric species include a giant Bullfinch Melopyrrha latirostris and the giant “Titan-Hawk”, Titanohierax gloveralleni.

Unfortunately, extinction in the Cayman Islands is not confined to prehistoric times. Our local subspecies of the Jamaican Oriole Icterus leucopteryx bardi was last seen in the Cayman Islands in 1967.

The Grand Cayman Thrush Turdus ravidus, a species found in Grand Cayman and nowhere else in the world, was first recorded in 1886, during an ornithological expedition to the Cayman Islands. It was last seen in 1938, in forests near East End. It is now considered extinct.

Habitat loss, compounded by hurricane damage, is blamed for the demise of the Grand Cayman Thrush. Now it is only to be found on the back of our one cent coin- a cold reminder of the fragility of our birdlife on these small islands.

REFERENCE:
For more information on fossils in the Cayman Islands, see “The Cayman Islands Natural History and Biogeography”.

Thrush stampThrush coin

REFERENCE:
For more information on the birds of the Cayman Islands, see
Bradley, P. E. 1995. Birds of the Cayman Islands
Bradley, P. E. 2000. The Birds of the Cayman Islands
Raffaele et al. 2003. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies.