Eastern Canary Islands chiffchaff
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The Eastern Canary Islands Chiffchaff or Lanzarote Island Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis exsul) was an endemic subspecies of the Canary Islands Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis) to the island of Lanzarote, and possibly on the island of Fuerteventura (both Canary Islands, Spain).
The Eastern Canary islands Chiffchaff was more chestnut-backed and shorter-winged than the Western Canary Islands Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus canariensis canariensis.
Apparently this subspecies was very rare at the moment of his discovery. A number of specimens were collected at the beginning of the XXth century in the Valley of Haría (Lanzarote). There it could be observed in broom thickets in the high and fresh zones. Since then there are only some doubtful records. The presence of this subspecies in Fuerteventura is merely hypothetical, as no specimen was ever colected there, nor there are reliable records from that island. Apparently, a nest of this subspecies was found in 1986, but the biologist that claimed it has recognized later that the subspecies is nowadays surely extinct.
The cause of extinction is unknown. Perhaps its presumed disappearance is related to the destruction and/or transformation of the vegetation in the high zones of the Macizo de Famara.