Brown mesite Brown mesite The brown mesite ("Mesitornis unicolor") is a ground-dwelling bird endemic to Madagascar. It is one of three species in the mesite family or the Mesitornithidae, and though classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), it is the most widespread of the three. This species is a medium-sized terrestrial bird which is often described as rail-like (a family with which the mesites are sometimes placed). The species has a plain face, marked only by a slightly contrasting fleshy eye-ring around a rather large eye and a variable white streak behind the eye. It has
Bird Island Light of Butler Point lies Bird Island, a point of land that mostly serves as a bird nesting site. The Bird Island lighthouse stands near the island's center. It is a circular masonry structure about , with its light at above sea level. The tower is topped by a cast iron lantern house, with an outside railing and conical roof with ventilator. The tower was built when the light was first established in 1819, and was accompanied by an attached stone keeper's dwelling. Three months after it was first lit, with William Moore as the keeper, it was badly damaged by