Kusaie Island Crake
Extinct circa 1827 CE • Kosrae Island, Caroline Islands, Federated States of Micronesia
"F.H. von Kittlitz discovered the crake during a visit to the Carolines in December 1827 and January 1828 yet a description of the species wasn't published until 30 years later. . . . Exactly when it became extinct is not known but it seems certain that it is. Yet Kusaie has only been visited by naturalists on rare occasions. Otto Finsch could not find these birds during a visit in 1880, nor did he hear them call. Coultas failed to locate any in 1931 despite a prolonged stay. It is surely significant that both men recorded the island as being overrun with rats."
Errol Fuller, Extinct Birds (Ithaca, NY: Comstock Pub., 2001), 134.
Image: Hermann Julius Meyer, Caroline, Marshall, Mariana and Palau Islands, Digital image. Meyers Geographischer Hand-Atlas, 1905, Web.
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