Aitutaki (18 km², maximum altitude 120 m) is one of the northernmost of the Southern Cook Islands (see EBA 210; also for map) and is classified as an 'almost-atoll', being composed of a volcanic cone and a ring of small coral islands encircling a lagoon. The entire main island is under cultivation or secondary growth, while the vegetation of the coralline islets is largely native forest. Aitutaki is a Secondary Area because the threatened (Vulnerable) restricted-range species Blue Lorikeet Vini peruviana occurs there (as well as in the Society Islands, EBA 213), although, as caged birds may once have been carried between islands by the Polynesians, the species may not be native. Prehistoric records of Kuhl's Lorikeet V. kuhlii (today native to Rimatara, EBA 211) from Mangaia, Atiu and Aitutaki suggest that this species was once indigenous to the Southern Cook Islands and it is not known whether two closely related small parrots could have coexisted (Steadman 1991). The population of V. peruviana is estimated at c.1,200 birds on the main island of Aitutaki (which is therefore an important stronghold), with none occurring on the smaller reef islands. There is no evidence of a decline on Aitutaki in the last decade, and extensive trapping in March 1994 indicated the absence of black rat Rattus rattus (Wilson 1993, G. McCormack in litt. 1994, 1996), the most likely cause of the species' disappearance from other islands in its French Polynesian range.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Aitutaki. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/434 on 23/11/2024.