Elephant bird determined that "Vorombe titan" reached weights of and stood tall, making it the world's largest bird, slightly larger than the much older "Dromornis stirtoni". Elephant birds have been extinct since at least the 17th century. Étienne de Flacourt, a French governor of Madagascar in the 1640s and 1650s, mentions an ostrich-like bird said to inhabit unpopulated regions, though it is unclear whether he was repeating folk tales passed on from generations earlier. In 1659, Flacourt wrote of the "vouropatra – a large bird which haunts the Ampatres and lays eggs like the ostriches; so that the people of these places
Bird Island, Slovakia seasons. Bird Island, Slovakia Bird Island is island in the Hrušovská zdrž (2518 ha), which is part of Gabčíkovo Reservoir, south-west of Šamorín, Slovakia. The island was built because of the constructions of the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros dams on the Danube as habitat compensation for areas consequently flooded. The island is part of proposed special protected areas Dunajské luhy for waterbirds. The most important breeding birds are Mediterranean gull ("Larus melanocephalus"), which is the only breeding site in Slovakia, and common redshank ("Tringa totanus"), for which it is the only breeding site in West Slovakia. Access is prohibited during the breeding and