The Rodrigues Soiltaire, the other dodo.

[Justin_]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42057143

[Ravonium]

Interesting article about a (sadly) extinct bird that is the closest relative of the most famous (sadly) extinct bird.


I never knew that some pigeons have bone knobs on their wings or that a large proportion of Rodrigues was submerged (I've seen similar features only on satelite maps of atolls before).

[stargatedalek]

I had been under the impression that the bird on Rodrigues was a flightless ibis and not a flightless pigeon? Has something changed in that understanding or is this actually a third bird?

[Ravonium]

I had been under the impression that the bird on Rodrigues was a flightless ibis and not a flightless pigeon? Has something changed in that understanding or is this actually a third bird?

To my understanding, the bird on Rodrigues has always been considered a relative of the Dodo, which, to my knowledge, has never been considered an ibis.

There is a flightless ibis recorded from the Mascarene islands, but it did not live on Rodrigues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunion_ibis

[stargatedalek]

I had been under the impression that the bird on Rodrigues was a flightless ibis and not a flightless pigeon? Has something changed in that understanding or is this actually a third bird?

To my understanding, the bird on Rodrigues has always been considered a relative of the Dodo, which, to my knowledge, has never been considered an ibis.

There is a flightless ibis recorded from the Mascarene islands, but it did not live on Rodrigues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunion_ibis

Looks like I got the names of the islands mixed up! Thanks for clearing that up, I was very confused.

Well, I guess that makes this second flightless pigeon entirely new to me, all the better.