Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species was endemic to the island of Rodrigues, Mauritius, but is now Extinct having been last recorded in 1726, and mentioned as absent in 1761. The cause of extinction is unknown, but hunting and introduced predators undoubtedly played a role.
Population justification
No extant population remains.
Trend justification
Little is known about this species, known only from subfossil bones and a few travellers accounts (Hume 2017). It was recorded in the early 1700s (Leguat 1708), and again in 1725-26 by Tafforet (Hume 2017) but could not be found by Pingré (1763) in 1761 suggesting the species may have become extinct by this time (Hume 2017). Severe deforestation and introduced predators, especially cats, are cited as the likely causes of extinction (Hume 2017).
Nycticorax megacephalus is known from a number of subfossil bones (Cowles 1987), and from Leguat's (1708) and Tafforet's (1726) accounts, from Rodrigues, Mauritius.
It is likely to have inhabited freshwater wetlands.
Leguat mentioned that they were easily caught (Hachisuka 1953), therefore hunting presumably contributed to their extinction, along with severe deforestation and introduced predators, primarily cats (Hume 2017).
Text account compilers
Mahood, S., Khwaja, N., Richardson, L., Brooks, T.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Rodrigues Night Heron Nycticorax megacephalus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/rodrigues-night-heron-nycticorax-megacephalus on 23/12/2024.
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 23/12/2024.