Prosobonia cancellata
The Kiritimati Sandpiper (*Prosobonia cancellata*), also known as the Christmas Island Sandpiper, is a poignant example of avian extinction, known only from a single specimen collected in 1777 during Captain James Cook's second voyage. This small shorebird, estimated to be about 18-20 cm in length, was characterized by its nondescript plumage, likely featuring mottled brown upperparts, a paler belly, and possibly a faint supercilium. Distinctive field marks are difficult to ascertain definiti...
The Kiritimati Sandpiper inhabited coastal and intertidal zones of Kiritimati (Christmas Island), favoring sandy beaches, tidal flats, and the edges of lagoons for foraging. It was a specialist of low-lying island ecosystems.
The Kiritimati Sandpiper's diet primarily consisted of small invertebrates such as marine worms, small crustaceans, and insects found by probing the sandy shores and tidal flats. It was an opportunistic feeder in its coastal environment.
Due to its extinction shortly after discovery, the specific daily activity patterns and roosting habits of the Kiritimati Sandpiper remain largely unknown, though it was likely diurnal, similar to most shorebirds. Its foraging strategy almost certainly involved probing the sandy and muddy substra...
The Kiritimati Sandpiper (*Prosobonia cancellata*) was strictly endemic to Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island, an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. Its entire known distribution was confined to this single remote island, with no records of its presence elsewhere. As a non-migratory isla...
Extinct
- The Kiritimati Sandpiper is known from a single specimen collected by Johann Reinhold Forster during Captain Cook's second voyage in 1777, making it one of the earliest documented extinct bird species by Europeans. - It was native exclusively to Kiritimati (Christmas Island), making it an islan...