The Raiatea starling, formerly known as the bay thrush, bay starling, or the mysterious bird of Ulieta,[2] is an extinct bird species of uncertain taxonomic relationships that once lived on the island of Raiatea (formerly known as Ulietea, hence the specific epithet ulietensis), the second largest of the Society Islands in French Polynesia.

The painting, now held by the British Natural History Museum, is annotated "Raiatea, female, June 1, 1774", and depicts the specimen obtained by the Forsters which entered the collection of Sir Joseph Banks and later disappeared.

[5] Some confusion was caused when Richard Bowdler Sharpe tried to match the illustration with a specimen skin of unknown origin in the British Museum collection.

This was eventually sorted out when the skin was identified as belonging to another enigmatic and extinct species – the Mauke starling Aplonis mavornata.

"[2] James Greenway gives a free and abridged translation (from the Latin) of Forster's description of the lost specimen as: "Head dusky marked with brown.