Not sighted for 140 years: Black-naped pheasant pigeon rediscovered

As Pat Leonard from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology reported yesterday, a team of scientists during an expedition to Papua New Guinea in September of this year rediscovered the black-naped pheasant pigeon (Otidiphaps insularis or Otidiphaps nobilis insularis), which had not been sighted for 140 years. The researchers captured the encounter on video:

The video and photographs represent the very first material of this bird species, which may occur exclusively in the interior of Fergusson Island. “After a month of searching, looking at the first photos of the pheasant pigeon felt like finding a unicorn,” says John C. Mittermeier, member of the expedition team and director of the American Bird Conservancy’s Search for Lost Birds project.

The black-naped pheasant pigeon was previously known only from two specimens collected in 1882. There were no further sightings after that. The large pigeon, approximately 50 centimeters long, has adapted to life on the forest floor—much like the Southeast Asian pheasant. It very rarely takes flight and spends most of its time on the ground.

Despite the joy over finding the bird, conservationists are also concerned, as the main landowner of the area where the black-naped pheasant pigeon was rediscovered informed the expedition team that he had signed a contract with a logging company. The destruction of its habitat could seal the black-naped pheasant pigeon’s fate once and for all. The team of scientists is currently working to return to Fergusson Island to determine how many individuals of this bird species still exist.