I found another trace of the now extinct osprey population that formerly inhabited the Tongan Islands; apparently it was in fact known to the Tongan people who called it teisseni or teiseni.

This can be taken from a end little note in an article about the birds of the Tonga Islands that was written in 1870.:

“Zu anderen Vögeln übergehend, die nicht in der ganzen Tongagruppe, sondern auf einzelne Inseln derselben beschränkt sind, erwähne ich für die Hapai-Inseln den Teisseni. Es soll derselbe auf den hohen Inseln Tofua und Kao vorkommen, wo nach Beschreibung der Eingeborenen noch mehrere sonst nirgends vorhandene Seevögel sich aufhalten. Der Teisseni ist ein grosser mächtiger Vogel, nach der Beschreibung der Tonganen ein Seeadler, vermuthlich Haliaetus leucogaster, Gml., der nach Gray auf Tonga vorkömmt.” [1]

Translation:

“Moving on to other birds, which are not restricted to the entire Tonga group, but to individual islands of it, I mention the Teisseni for the Hapai Islands. It is said to occur on the high islands of Tofua and Kao, where, according to the natives’ descriptions, there are several seabirds that are not found anywhere else. The Teisseni is a large, powerful bird, according to the Tongan description a sea eagle, probably Haliaetus leucogaster, Gml., which occurs on Tonga according to Gray.”

Sea eagles did not occur as far east; and in my opinion it is quite possible that this account refers to a population of ospreys; it also makes sense that these last populations survived on exactly these two small, remote and little inhabited islands.

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The first part can be found here.:

Ospreys on the Tongan Islands – when did they disappear?

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References:

[1] Eduard Gräffe: Die Vogelwelt der Tonga-Inseln. Journal für Ornithologie 18(108): 401-420. 1870

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edited: 11.09.2024