The Galápagos rail, thought to be extinct, has been rediscovered on Floreana

The island of Floreana is one of the islands in the archipelago that has been most heavily modified by humans. It was therefore assumed that the Galápagos rail (Laterallus spilonota) became extinct due to invasive species. These small land birds fly very poorly and are therefore highly threatened by introduced cats and rats.

During the annual monitoring visit of the rangers and staff of the landbird team of the Charles Darwin Station (CDF), the presence of Galápagos rails was confirmed at three locations on Floreana. In 1835, Charles Darwin described Galápagos rails on Floreana during his visit, but none of these birds have been found since. For this reason, the Galápagos rail is one of the 12 species considered locally extinct that should be reintroduced to Floreana after the elimination of invasive rats, mice and cats.

Birgit Fessel, head of the CDF's landbird team, is very pleased about these new findings. She suspects that the rails were simply not discovered in the past due to their extremely low population numbers and have now been found thanks to better recording technology and the changes to their habitat. However, she does not want to completely rule out recolonization, although it must always be borne in mind that Galápagos rails are very poor fliers, which makes the first variant more likely. The researchers now want to catch some animals and use genetic samples to determine the extent to which the rails are old populations or newly immigrated birds.

However, the fact that the elimination of rats and cats has been so successful so quickly surprises all the researchers. This year, the first Galápagos pigeons have already been spotted on Floreana and the first mockingbirds have already been seen in the Wiedmer family's garden.

It's great to see how quickly nature can regenerate when given the chance.