Five archaeological sites on the remote, raised limestone island of
Fais, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia, yielded nearly 200 identifiable bird
bones from strata that range in age from about 400 to 1800 radiocarbon yr B.P.
Represented are 14 species of seabirds, five species of migratory shorebirds, four
species of land birds, and the introduced chicken. This is the most species-rich
prehistoric assemblage of birds from any island in Micronesia. Because the
"modern" avifauna of Fais never has been studied, it is difficult to determine
which of the species from archaeological contexts still occur on Fais. Nevertheless,
based upon modern distributions of birds from other islands in Yap and
adjacent island groups, the environmental condition of Fais, and what is known
about the relative vulnerability of individual species, it is likely that about nine
ofthe seabirds (Pterodroma sp., Bulweria bulwerii, Sula dactylatra, S. sula, Sterna
sumatrana, S. lunata, S.fuscata, Anous minutus, Procelsterna cerulea) and three
of the land birds (Poliolimnas cinereus, Gallicolumba cf. xanthonura, Ducula
oceanica) no longer live on Fais