Birdwatching offers the opportunity to enjoy wildlife, immerse yourself in nature, and offer your services as a citizen scientist. Now you can also add expert scavenger hunters to your resume.
Re:wild, American Bird Conservancy and BirdLife International are teaming up with bird enthusiasts around the globe for Program to find lost birds. Using data from Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird foundation, the goal is to find 10 species that have been “lost” to science for more than 10 years. This is an offshoot of Re:wild’s Search for Lost Species program, which has successfully rediscovered eight of the 25 most wanted lost species since 2017.
Barney Long, Senior Director of Conservation Strategy at Re:wild, speak, “In the last 5 years, since we launched our Lost Species Search, our list of species that can be considered lost has grown to more than 2,000. We never planned on finding them all alone, but encouraged others to seek out and develop partnerships to help. Through this new partnership we will be able to get more targeted exploration in the field. If we can find these missing birds, conservationists can better protect them against the threats they face.”
The organization notes that through Cornell’s eBird program, more than 700,000 users have submitted more than a billion bird sightings around the world. Despite such a large number, not a single bird of the 10 most wanted birds has been seen. This does not mean that they are extinct, just that they have not been discovered. This could be due to habitat destruction, invasive species, scientists not knowing where and how to look for them, or a lack of access to bird habitats.
So what are the top ten birds asked?
- The dusky tetraka, last seen in Madagascar in 1999
- South kōkako island, last seen in New Zealand in 2007
- Jerdon’s courser, last seen in India in 2009
- Itwombe aka Prigogine’s nightgown, last seen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1955
- Cuban kite, last seen in Cuba in 2010
- Negros fruit pigeon, last seen in the Philippines in 1953
- Santa Marta sabrewing, last seen in Colombia in 2010
- Vilcabamba brush sparrow, last seen in Peru in 1968
- Himalayan quail, last seen in India in 1877
- Siau the owl, last seen in Indonesia in 1866
Two expeditions focusing on the Siau owl and the dusky tetraka are planned for next year. There is also an ongoing search for the southern island of kōkako. Bird watchers are invited to take a walk on their own to see if they can spot any of the 10. Even if none are found, the organizers hope it will remind participants about the importance of saving globally declining bird species.
Roger Safford, senior program director for extinction prevention at BirdLife International, speak, “We’re optimistic that the Search for Lost Birds will lead to exciting rediscoveries, but ultimately it’s a matter of conservation. We know that with good conservation efforts, species can be saved from the brink of extinction, but only if we know where the last populations are. We hope these expeditions will capture people’s imaginations and catalyze conservation.”
For more information on species involved in the search, see Re: wild’s website.
