There Are Over 100 Lost Birds That Haven’t Been Spotted In At Least A Decade, So Scientists Are Urging The Public To Keep An Eye Out For These Rare Species
In the wild, nearly 12,000 species of birds exist. Humans see them every day, but there are a handful that haven’t been recorded in a year or even in over a century.
Scientists have updated the list of “lost” birds and are urging the public to keep a lookout for the rare avians.
Over the last 130,000 years, humans have caused a total of 1,430 bird species to go extinct. The “lost” birds on the list are not necessarily extinct—they just haven’t been spotted in at least a decade.
Researchers compiled a full list by analyzing more than 42 million photographs, videos, and sound recordings taken by bird watchers and uploaded to citizen science platforms.
In addition, they examined museum collections, media from search engines, and scientific papers and consulted with local experts.
An analysis that was conducted two years ago described 144 bird species that had not been documented in more than a decade.
However, according to the American Bird Conservancy, recent sightings and some classification technicalities have brought the number down to 126 lost birds.
The 126 lost birds make up roughly one percent of the known 11,849 bird species. Several of them are endangered or critically endangered, so finding them is important in order to prevent them from disappearing forever.
“Through more exposure in global ornithological and birding networks, there’s great potential to learn more about birds that are poorly known and highly threatened,” said study co-author Cameron Rutt, an ornithologist from Louisiana State University and the former lost birds coordinator for the American Bird Conservancy.
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The lost birds range from hummingbirds to ducks that live all over the world. Some live in remote areas, while others are dwindling due to habitat loss, climate change, and other human-driven causes. These various reasons are why they are considered lost.
There are bird species that haven’t been seen in more than 150 years, including the coppery thorntail, the New Caledonian lorikeet, and the Jamaican pauraque.
Others, such as the Papuan whipbird, became lost more recently. It was last recorded 13 years ago.
In North America, six native species from Hawaii made the list. Additionally, species like the ivory-billed woodpecker are on the list, which hasn’t been spotted officially since 1956.
Some lost birds have been found in recent years. In 2022, a large hummingbird with iridescent blue and green feathers called the Santa Marta sabrewing was rediscovered in Colombia. Since then, researchers have located around 50 of the critically endangered birds.
Also in 2022, the auwo, also known as the black-naped pheasant-pigeon, was rediscovered in Papua New Guinea. Previously, it had been lost to science for 140 years.
Citizen scientists and local communities will play a major role in finding the lost birds. After species reveal themselves, experts will implement conservation efforts to make sure the species aren’t lost again in the future.
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