Wikipedia:Today's featured list/February 10, 2023
Thirty-seven species of birds have been recorded in Tuvalu, an island country in Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. Thirteen of these species, nine of which are seabirds, breed in the country. The Pacific reef heron (example pictured), the Pacific imperial pigeon, and the buff-banded rail, along with the introduced red junglefowl, are the other breeding species. Nine species of wader, eight species of seabird, the mallard, and the long-railed koel are migratory visitors to Tuvalu. Four species of birds found in Tuvalu are globally threatened; the bristle-thighed curlew, the bar-tailed godwit and the grey-tailed tattler are near-threatened, while the Phoenix petrel is endangered. Before the arrival of humans, the birds of Tuvalu may have also included kingfishers, Acrocephalus warblers, Aplonis starlings, Prosobonia sandpipers and fruit doves. However, higher sea levels at that time might have eliminated fresh water sources on most of the atolls, making them unsuitable for pigeons or starlings. (Full list...)