Washington Island Gadwall

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iWashington Island Gadwall
Conservation status
Extinct  (1880s)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae Genus: Anas Species: A. strepera Subspecies: A. strepera couesi
Trinomial name
Anas strepera couesi Streets, 1876
Synonyms
Chaulelasmus couesi Streets, 1876

The Washington Island Gadwall or Coues's Gadwall (Anas strepera couesi) is an extinct duck which is only known by two specimens from the Pacific island of Teraina (formerly known as Washington Island). They can now be seen in the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.. The status of this bird is controversial. While many scientists considered it as dwarfed subspecies of the Common Gadwall (Anas strepera strepera) others argue that the two individuals might have been just juveniles of the gadwall which were drifted to Teraina. The Washington Island Gadwall was only seen in January 1874 and was first described by Dr. Thomas Hale Streets (1847–1925) in 1876. Streets reported of two immatures which were found in a peat bog and which resembled the immature appearance of the Common Gadwall except for the black bill and its much more inferior size. The cause of its extinction might be the extensive hunting by settlers of Tabuaeran (formerly known as Fanning Island) which have shot large numbers of migrant ducks on both Teraina and Tabuaeran each year. It was named for Elliott Coues.

[edit] References

• Greenway, James C. (1967): Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World
• Day, David (1981): The Doomsday Book of Animals
• Fuller, Errol (2000): Extinct Birds

[edit] External links

• The Coues Gadwall Extinct