astronomy

Tasman starling

Tasman starling is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tasman starling rather than just read about it. In short: The Tasman starling (Aplonis fusca) was described in 1836 by John Gould as a species which occurred on both Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. In 1928 Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews recognized that the plumage of the race from Lord Howe Island was much browner and more greyish than the plumage of the Norfolk Island race and split the species into two forms, the Norfolk starling (Aplonis fusca fusca), and…

Key takeaways

Tasman starling belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tasman starling to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tasman starling from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Tasman starling (Aplonis fusca) was described in 1836 by John Gould as a species which occurred on both Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. In 1928 Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews recognized that the plumage of the race from Lord Howe Island was much browner and more greyish than the plumage of the Norfolk Island race and split the species into two forms, the Norfolk starling (Aplonis fusca fusca), and the Lord Howe starling (Aplonis fusca hulliana). Both subspecies are now extinct, thus so the species.

Norfolk starling

The Norfolk starling (Aplonis fusca fusca), was a small bird in the starling family. It is the extinct nominate subspecies of the Tasman starling.

Distribution The Norfolk starling was confined to Norfolk Island, an Australian territory in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

Description The Norfolk starling was 20 cm long. The wing length was 9.8 cm to 10.3 cm, the length of the tail was 6.3 to 6.8 cm, the length of the culmen 1.3 cm and tarsus was 2.5 cm. It was generally greyish brown. The males were glossy metallic green from head to the throat. The back, the rump, the uppertail coverts, the wing coverts, and underparts were grey, but undertail coverts were whitish. The bill was black and the eyes orange red. The females were coloured similarly but the greenish gloss were slightly duller and a grey throat contrasted with pale brownish flanks. The under breast was washed ochraceous. The abdomen and the undertail coverts were yellowish white.

Extinction The reasons for its extinction are unclear. Competition from introduced European starlings, song thrushes and common blackbirds, overhunting and habitat loss through agricultural clearing might have played important roles. Reports in older literature that it was driven to extinction by rats like its relative from Lord Howe Island are incorrect because rats did not become a pest on Norfolk Island until 1940, while the last living record of a Norfolk starling is from 1923.

Lord Howe starling

The Lord Howe starling (Aplonis fusca hulliana) was a small bird in the starling family. It is an extinct subspecies of the Tasman starling. It was endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, part of New South Wales, Australia.

Description The Lord Howe starling was 18 cm long. The head, the neck, the mantle and the throat were glossy metallic green. The back was slaty grey with a dull greenish gloss. The rump and the underparts were grey. The tail was grey with brownish tips to the feathers. The wings were rich brown. The iris was orange red.

Ecology The starlings were called "red-eyes" from their eye colour, or "cudgimeruk" from their distinctive calls, by the islanders. They were forest dwellers which lived and foraged in pairs. During the nesting period a clutch of four to five bluish green eggs with red blotches were laid in a nest in a hollow in a dead tree or tree fern.

Extinction The fate of the Lord Howe starling was sealed in June 1918 when the SS Makambo grounded at Ned's Beach, thus allowing black rats to leave the vessel and overrun the island. Within two years 40% of Lord Howe's endemic bird species were extinct, including the Lord Howe fantail, Lord Howe gerygone, and robust white-eye. The Lord Howe starling vanished by 1919.

References

Bibliography Errol Fuller (2000). "Extinct Birds", ISBN 0-8160-1833-2 Day, David - The Doomsday Book of Animals Greenway, James C. - Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World Luther, Dieter - Die ausgestorbenen Vögel der Welt: Die neue Brehm-Bücherei 424

External links BirdLife Species Factsheet: Norfolk Starling Norfolk Island Starling. Aplonis fusca. Archived 2012-10-17 at the Wayback Machine by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006 Illustration on a stamp Birdtheme.org Birdlife factsheet - Aplonis fusca Museum Naturalis - Tasman (Lord Howe Island) Starling 3D view of specimens RMNH 110.032, RMNH 110.033 and RMNH 110.035 at Naturalis, Leiden (requires QuickTime browser plugin) Norfolk Island Starling. Aplonis fusca. Archived 2012-10-17 at the Wayback Machine by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book Extinct Birds of New Zealand, by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tasman starling

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tasman starling claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tasman starling before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tasman starling ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tasman starling

In research: Tasman starling appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tasman starling in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tasman starling is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aplonis, Bird extinctions since 1500, Birds described in 1836, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tasman starling outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tasman starling in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tasman starling means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tasman starling out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tasman starling in simple terms?

Why does Tasman starling matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tasman starling?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tasman starling.