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
Rotamah Island Bird Observatory Rotamah Island Bird Observatory Rotamah Island Bird Observatory was established in 1979 on Rotamah Island in the Gippsland Lakes National Park in eastern Victoria, Australia, by Birds Australia as Australia's second bird observatory, in order to provide a base for the study and enjoyment of the birds of the area. Rotamah Island had previously been a farming property, and the observatory was established in 'Overstrand', the homestead built in 1908. In 1985 the observatory was visited by Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales. The natural vegetation of Rotamah Island is eucalypt woodland. There is also a causeway linking the