Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species is known from the mainland of Mauritius. The only potential account of the species in life is from 1693, and it likely went extinct sometime in the early 1700s.
Population justification
No extant population remains.
Trend justification
There is very little information about this species, known only from subfossil remains, and singular account which mentions 'great flights of bitterns' (Leguat 1708) from Mauritius in 1693 (Hume 2017). Leguat's description likely refers to this species, given that the only two other species of Ardeidae known from the island are Egretta dimorpha and Butorides striatus (Cheke 1987), species which could in no way be described as "bitterns". It is expected that the species went extinct sometime in the early 1700s, with introduced predators the likely cause (Hume 2017).
Nycticorax mauritianus was described from seven fossil bones (of which only a coracoid and a tarsometatarsus are available today), from Mauritius (Cowles 1987).
It is likely to have inhabited freshwater wetlands.
Introduced predators (such as cats) are considered the most likely cause of extinction (Hume 2017), but hunting for consumption may have also contributed.
Text account compilers
Brooks, T., Khwaja, N., Mahood, S., Richardson, L.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Mauritius Night Heron Nycticorax mauritianus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/mauritius-night-heron-nycticorax-mauritianus on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.