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Description
4,000 years ago during the Holocene epoch (which we are still in today) on the island of Grande Terre of the New Caledonia archipelago in the south Pacific Ocean, a mating pair of powerful goshawks (Accipiter efficax) have built their nest up in the branches of a tree in the rainforest as they prepare to become parents of a clutch of eggs, and will aggressively chase off any threats to their nest. This includes animals much bigger than themselves like a 2-meter long Mekosuchus inexpectatus. While Mekosuchus is a small species of crocodilian, it is quite unlike any extant crocodile in that it lives on land away from water and can even climb up trees, which this one is doing as it forages for large insects, tree snails and eggs. Upon noticing the arriving tree crocodile getting close to the nest, the male goshawk starts to swoop at its face in an attempt to startle it into turning away or make it slip and fall, whilst the larger female stays within the nest of sticks to guard it.

Drawing for Island Fauna Week still (youtu.be/PPpzBF8ajTI ). Many islands are shattered across the planet's oceans, and in particular the south of the Pacific Ocean has many archipelagos with lots of endemic species that evolved in isolation on them, but as is common with islands many of these endemic species died out after humans settled on the islands. One archipelago of this area is New Caledonia, which a lies a towards the east of Australia and is currently a sovereign state of France. While New Caledonia still has rich biodiversity, many of its species have died out from human activity.

Among the most unique of animals from the south Pacific islands is Mekosuchus, a genus of small crocodiles that only grew 2 meters long. The oldest species of this genus lived during the Oligocene of Australia, but some much younger species lasted up until around 3,000 years ago on islands in the Pacific. The species M. inexpectatus was found only in New Caledonia and died out 4,000 years ago, so it would've existed long enough to encounter the first human settlers of the islands. Strong back teeth for crushing suggests it ate shelled prey like snails, large insects and eggs, though it may also sometimes hunt the many endemic lizards and smaller birds of the islands. Interestingly, Mekosuchus was a terrestrial animal that lived on land and hunted land-based prey (unlike extant aquatic crocodiles) , and the clade it belongs to, Mekosuchinae, actually includes many aquatic species from Australia that lived and looked more like extant crocodilians. While a late-surviving small land crocodile is already a unique creature, it has been further suggested that Mekosuchus may have been at least partially arboreal and was capable of climbing trees, and would occasionally forages up in the trees as well as on the ground. This claim is a little controversial but apparently extant crocodilians are capable of climbing trees to some extent too so I guess one more adapted to terrestrial life would be able to do just as well if not better.

Described in 1989 from subfossil remains found at the Pindai Caves of Grande Terre island, Accipiter efficax is an extinct species of bird of prey belonging to the same genus as extant goshawks and sparrowhawks, and is commonly called the powerful goshawk or greater New Caledonian goshawk. This bird would have ranked high on New Caledonia's food chain and preyed on the many other birds of the islands, as well as perhaps bats and lizards. As expected from the name, it was one of the larger species of goshawks, comparable in size to the extant northern goshawk, and would have lived alongside other, smaller species of the Accipiter genus, including the extinct gracile goshawk (A. quartus) and the white-bellied goshawk (A. haplochrous) which still exists today. Species of this genus tend to show sexual dimorphism, with females growing larger than males, which was probably also present in the powerful goshawk.

Other wildlife in the picture include a crested gecko (Correlophus ciliatus) climbing a branch in the foreground that also has a Nepenthes vieillardii pitcher plant growing on it. Both the gecko and pitcher plant still exists today and are exclusive to New Caledonia, and while the crested gecko was thought to have gone extinct, it was later rediscovered and is now a popular pet reptile. The white birds flying in the background are meant to be a species of cockatoo of the Cacatua genus whose subfossil remains were found in the Pindai Caves, but have not yet been described and it's not certain if these are an extinct species endemic to New Caledonia or a population of an extant cockatoo species that was once lived here but now is no longer found in New Caledonia, so it’s just Cacatua sp. for now.

Description
4,000 years ago during the Holocene epoch (which we are still in today) on the island of Grande Terre of the New Caledonia archipelago in the south Pacific Ocean, a mating pair of powerful goshawks (Accipiter efficax) have built their nest up in the branches of a tree in the rainforest as they prepare to become parents of a clutch of eggs, and will aggressively chase off any threats to their nest. This includes animals much bigger than themselves like a 2-meter long Mekosuchus inexpectatus. While Mekosuchus is a small species of crocodilian, it is quite unlike any extant crocodile in that it lives on land away from water and can even climb up trees, which this one is doing as it forages for large insects, tree snails and eggs. Upon noticing the arriving tree crocodile getting close to the nest, the male goshawk starts to swoop at its face in an attempt to startle it into turning away or make it slip and fall, whilst the larger female stays within the nest of sticks to guard it.

Drawing for Island Fauna Week still (youtu.be/PPpzBF8ajTI ). Many islands are shattered across the planet's oceans, and in particular the south of the Pacific Ocean has many archipelagos with lots of endemic species that evolved in isolation on them, but as is common with islands many of these endemic species died out after humans settled on the islands. One archipelago of this area is New Caledonia, which a lies a towards the east of Australia and is currently a sovereign state of France. While New Caledonia still has rich biodiversity, many of its species have died out from human activity.

Among the most unique of animals from the south Pacific islands is Mekosuchus, a genus of small crocodiles that only grew 2 meters long. The oldest species of this genus lived during the Oligocene of Australia, but some much younger species lasted up until around 3,000 years ago on islands in the Pacific. The species M. inexpectatus was found only in New Caledonia and died out 4,000 years ago, so it would've existed long enough to encounter the first human settlers of the islands. Strong back teeth for crushing suggests it ate shelled prey like snails, large insects and eggs, though it may also sometimes hunt the many endemic lizards and smaller birds of the islands. Interestingly, Mekosuchus was a terrestrial animal that lived on land and hunted land-based prey (unlike extant aquatic crocodiles) , and the clade it belongs to, Mekosuchinae, actually includes many aquatic species from Australia that lived and looked more like extant crocodilians. While a late-surviving small land crocodile is already a unique creature, it has been further suggested that Mekosuchus may have been at least partially arboreal and was capable of climbing trees, and would occasionally forages up in the trees as well as on the ground. This claim is a little controversial but apparently extant crocodilians are capable of climbing trees to some extent too so I guess one more adapted to terrestrial life would be able to do just as well if not better.

Described in 1989 from subfossil remains found at the Pindai Caves of Grande Terre island, Accipiter efficax is an extinct species of bird of prey belonging to the same genus as extant goshawks and sparrowhawks, and is commonly called the powerful goshawk or greater New Caledonian goshawk. This bird would have ranked high on New Caledonia's food chain and preyed on the many other birds of the islands, as well as perhaps bats and lizards. As expected from the name, it was one of the larger species of goshawks, comparable in size to the extant northern goshawk, and would have lived alongside other, smaller species of the Accipiter genus, including the extinct gracile goshawk (A. quartus) and the white-bellied goshawk (A. haplochrous) which still exists today. Species of this genus tend to show sexual dimorphism, with females growing larger than males, which was probably also present in the powerful goshawk.

Other wildlife in the picture include a crested gecko (Correlophus ciliatus) climbing a branch in the foreground that also has a Nepenthes vieillardii pitcher plant growing on it. Both the gecko and pitcher plant still exists today and are exclusive to New Caledonia, and while the crested gecko was thought to have gone extinct, it was later rediscovered and is now a popular pet reptile. The white birds flying in the background are meant to be a species of cockatoo of the Cacatua genus whose subfossil remains were found in the Pindai Caves, but have not yet been described and it's not certain if these are an extinct species endemic to New Caledonia or a population of an extant cockatoo species that was once lived here but now is no longer found in New Caledonia, so it’s just Cacatua sp. for now.