Birds
Lord Howe Woodhen
Hypotaenidia sylvestris · also called Lord Howe rail
Walking fearlessly across the forest floor of the single island it calls home, a Lord Howe woodhen carries the legacy of a population once reduced to as few as thirty birds, saved by one of the earliest successful island predator-eradication programs in conservation history.
Overview
The Lord Howe woodhen, Hypotaenidia sylvestris, is a flightless forest bird restricted entirely to habitat on Lord Howe Island, off the eastern coast of Australia. Its recovery from a population low of roughly thirty individuals, rescue through feral pig eradication paired with captive breeding, and complete restriction to a single small island make it one of the most instructive early success stories in island bird conservation.
A model for recovery
Long before island conservation became a well-established field, the Lord Howe woodhen’s recovery from near-extinction demonstrated that removing introduced predators and breeding a founder population in captivity could bring a bird back from the very edge.
Status
Vulnerable, with a stabilised population following successful predator eradication and captive-breeding efforts on Lord Howe Island.
Lord Howe Woodhen: common questions
How close did the Lord Howe woodhen come to extinction?
This species declined to as few as thirty individuals before a dedicated recovery program brought it back from the brink of extinction, one of the lowest population counts ever recorded for a bird that ultimately recovered.
How was the Lord Howe woodhen saved?
This species recovered largely because of a program that eradicated introduced feral pigs from Lord Howe Island while breeding a founder population in captivity for later release, an early and influential model for island bird conservation.
Where is the Lord Howe woodhen found?
This species is restricted entirely to Lord Howe Island, a small island off the eastern coast of Australia, found nowhere else on Earth.
Is the Lord Howe woodhen afraid of people?
Not particularly, since this species shows little fear of humans, a trait common among island birds that evolved for a long time without significant natural predators before humans and introduced animals arrived.