Birdwatching: 'Birders' asked to help find 126 lost birds - which haven't been seen in at least a decade

A new report published this week by The Search for Lost Birds - a collaboration between international conservation organisations Re:wild, the American Bird Conservancy, and BirdLife International - has compiled the most complete list to date of bird species currently lost to science. Of the approximately 11,849 known species of bird worldwide, it found that just 126 met the criteria of being ‘lost’.

A ‘lost bird’ is defined as a species that has not been photographed, recorded, or proven by DNA evidence to be living in the wild for at least 10 years. Birds are some of the most well documented animals on the planet, thanks in part to the popularity of birdwatching - or the more competitive birding - as a hobby.

But the experts behind the report still have hope many of the species on the list can be found once more. John Mittermeier, director of the Search for Lost Birds at the American Bird Conservancy, said: “Figuring out why these birds have become lost and then trying to find them can feel like a detective story. While some of the species on the list will be incredibly challenging or maybe even impossible to find, others might reveal themselves relatively quickly if people get to the right places.’’

Finding and documenting so-called lost birds can actually help to save them from extinction, and other species that share the same habitats. This is vitally important, with nearly half the world’s bird species now in decline, and one in eight threatened with extinction, according to BirdLife. American Bird Conservancy vice president Daniel Lebbin added: “Documenting the survival of lost birds is critically important for supporting next-step actions to conserve these species. We need to confirm these birds survive and where to conserve their habitat.”

As the pressures of the twin climate and nature crises mount, these remote, less understood species will be the first to fall. Re:wild’s Christina Biggs, one of the paper’s co-authors, said: “We want to make sure that our resources go toward preventing extinction of the most threatened species... As the sixth mass extinction progresses, it’s imperative that we grow our scientific circles to include indigenous, local community, and citizen science knowledge.”

Lost birds are able to be ‘found’ again, with a recent example being the yellow-crested helmetshrike. The golden-crowned birds had gone some 20 years without being seen, before American researchers confirmed they had found and photographed a group of them in the Congo earlier this year. The Search for Lost Birds project has also had some success stories, with the Santa Marta sabrewing - an iridescent blue and green hummingbird - rediscovered in Columbia in 2022, and the Dusky tetraka - a small, olive and yellow songbird - found in Madagascar by an expedition team last year.

Which birds are on the list?

The 126 birds on the lost list span the globe, although are largely concentrated in the global south - with most birds in Europe and North America seemingly pretty well documented. The highest concentrations are in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, South America, and Central Africa.

The species which has been lost for the longest is a striking black and white bird from South America called the white-tailed tityra, which has not been seen in 195 years. More recent additions include the Papuan whipbird, a dark green bird from West Papua last seen in 2011.

Hailing from New Zealand, the South Island kōkako - distinguishable from the very much not lost North Island kōkako by its orange, rather than blue, wattles - hasn’t been seen since 1909, 114 years ago. But a local conservation trust has put up an NZ$10,000 (£4,800) reward for proof the species hasn’t gone extinct, and there have been a number of people who believe they may have seen or heard it in the country’s dense forests who have come forward since.

Two species from the US not seen in more than 60 years have also made the list - Bachman’s warbler and the ivory-billed woodpecker. With a strong competitive birding community in the United States, those who also photograph their finds may be able to help confirm any more recent sightings.

Some of the other species considered more likely to be rediscovered include the Siau scops-owl in Indonesia, the Himalayan quail in India, the Itombwe nightjar in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Cuban kite in Cuba, the Negros fruit dove in the Philippines, the Vilcabamba brush-finch in Peru and Jerdon’s courser, also in India.

To explore the full list of 126 lost birds and where they were last found, or to find out how you can join the search, you can visit the Search for Lost Birds website here.

Amber Allott is NationalWorld’s environment and sustainability specialist, covering all things green - from climate to conservation. If you liked this article you can follow Amber on X (Twitter) here and sign up for the free daily NationalWorld Today newsletter here - with Amber bringing you the UK's most important, pressing, weird and wonderful environmental stories every Tuesday.