Large pigeon lost to science for 140 years rediscovered in Papua New Guinea

PRESS RELEASE:

A team of scientists and conservationists has rediscovered the elusive Black-naped Pheasant-pigeon, a large, ground-dwelling pigeon that only lives on Fergusson Island, a rugged island in the D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago off eastern Papua New Guinea. Like other pheasant-pigeons, the Black-naped Pheasant-pigeon has a broad and laterally compressed tail, which along with its size, makes it closely resemble a pheasant. The photographs and video are the first time the long-lost bird has been documented by scientists since 1882, when it was first described. Ornithologists know very little about the species but believe that the population on Fergusson is very small and decreasing.

The research team photographed the pheasant-pigeon with a remote camera trap at the end of a month-long search of Fergusson.

“When we collected the camera traps, I figured there was less than a one percent chance of getting a photo of the Black-naped Pheasant-pigeon,” said Jordan Boersma, postdoctoral researcher at Cornell Lab of Ornithology and co-leader of the expedition team. “Then as I was scrolling through the photos, I was stunned by this photo of this bird walking right past our camera.”

Header image: The black-naped pheasant-pigeon, a species lost to science since 1882, was rediscovered after camera traps setup by an expedition team with the Search for Lost Birds in Papua New Guinea captured photos of the large, ground-dwelling bird in Papua New Guinea © Doka Nason/American Bird Conservancy

“As well as giving hope for searches for other lost species, the detailed information collected by the team has provided a basis for conservation of this extremely rare bird, which must indeed be highly threatened, together with the other unique species of Fergusson Island.”

Roger Safford, senior program manager for preventing extinctions at BirdLife International

The expedition team – which included local Papua New Guineans working with Papua New Guinea National Museum, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the American Bird Conservancy (BirdLife USA) – arrived on Fergusson in early September 2022. They spent a month traveling around the island, interviewing local community members to identify locations to set up camera traps in hopes of finding the pheasant-pigeon. The steep, mountainous terrain on Fergusson Island made searching for the bird extremely challenging.

“It wasn’t until we reached villages on the western slope of Mt. Kilkerran that we started meeting hunters who had seen and heard the pheasant-pigeon,” said Jason Gregg, conservation biologist and a co-leader of the expedition team. “We became more confident about the local name of the bird, which is ‘Auwo,’ and felt like we were getting closer to the core habitat of where the black-naped pheasant-pigeon lives.”

The expedition was the first-ever camera trapping study conducted on Fergusson Island. The team placed 12 camera traps on the slopes of Mt. Kilkerran, Fergusson’s highest mountain, and deployed an additional eight cameras in locations where local hunters had reported seeing the pheasant-pigeon in the past.

“When we finally found the black-naped pheasant-pigeon, it was during the final hours of the expedition,” said Doka Nason, the member of the team who set up the camera trap that eventually photographed the lost bird. “When I saw the photos, I was incredibly excited.”

A local hunter named Augustin Gregory in the village of Duda Ununa west of Mt. Kilkerran provided a breakthrough lead on where to find the bird. Gregory reported seeing the pheasant-pigeon on multiple occasions in an area with steep ridges and valleys and described hearing the bird’s distinctive calls, which is similar to other species of pheasant-pigeons.

Following Gregory’s advice, the team set up cameras in an area of dense forest. A camera placed on a ridge at 3,200 feet (1000 meters) near the Kwama River above Duda Ununa eventually captured the Black-naped Pheasant-pigeon walking on the forest floor two days before the team was scheduled to leave the island.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/773393020?h=d06ed65956&dnt=1&app_id=122963Camera trap footage of the Black-naped pheasant-pigeon © Doka Nason/American Bird Conservancy

“This rediscovery is an incredible beacon of hope for other birds that have been lost for a half century or more. The terrain the team searched was incredibly difficult, but their determination never wavered, even though so few people could remember seeing the pheasant-pigeon in recent decades.”

Christina Biggs, manager for the Search for Lost Species at Re:wild

Several members of the team have attempted to find the black-naped pheasant pigeon before. A two-week survey in 2019 by Boersma, Gregg and Nason didn’t find any traces of the bird, though it did gather reports from local hunters of a bird that could have been the pheasant-pigeon. The results from that survey helped to determine locations for the team to search in 2022.

“The communities were very excited when they saw the survey results, because many people hadn’t seen or heard of the bird until we began our project and got the camera trap photos,” said Serena Ketaloya, a conservationist from Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. “They are now looking forward to working with us to try to protect the pheasant-pigeon.”

The team’s findings suggest that the pheasant-pigeon is likely to be extremely rare. The rugged and inaccessible forest where they rediscovered the species could be the last stronghold for the black-naped pheasant-pigeon on Fegusson.

The expedition was supported by American Bird Conservancy and the Search for Lost Birds, a collaboration between BirdLife International, American Bird Conservancy and Re:wild. The Search for Lost Birds identified the pheasant-pigeon for an expedition after a global review revealed it was one of a few bird species that have been lost to science for more than a century.

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This bird hadn’t been documented by scientists since 1882. Then they captured video of it in Papua New Guinea

CNN — A bird thought to be extinct for 140 years has been rediscovered in the forests of Papua New Guinea.

The black-naped pheasant-pigeon was documented by scientists for the first and last time in 1882, according to a news release from nonprofit Re:wild, which helped fund the search effort.

Rediscovering the bird required an expedition team to spend a grueling month on Fergusson, a rugged island in the D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago off eastern Papua New Guinea where the bird was originally documented. The team consisted of local staff at the Papua New Guinea National Museum as well as international scientists from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the American Bird Conservancy.

Fergusson Island is covered in rugged, mountainous terrain – making the expedition especially challenging for the scientists. Many members of the community told the team that they hadn’t seen the black-naped pheasant-pigeon in decades, says the news release.

But just two days before the researchers were scheduled to leave the island, a camera trap captured footage of the exceptionally rare bird.

“After a month of searching, seeing those first photos of the pheasant-pigeon felt like finding a unicorn,” John C. Mittermeier, director of the lost birds program at American Bird Conservancy and co-leader of the expedition, said in the release. “It is the kind of moment you dream about your entire life as a conservationist and birdwatcher.”

The black-naped pheasant-pigeon is a large, ground-dwelling pigeon with a broad tail, according to the release. Scientists still know little about the species and believe the population is small and decreasing.

Insight from local residents was crucial for the scientists to track down the elusive bird.

“It wasn’t until we reached villages on the western slope of Mt. Kilkerran that we started meeting hunters who had seen and heard the pheasant-pigeon,” Jason Gregg, a conservation biologist and co-leader of the expedition team, said in the release. “We became more confident about the local name of the bird, which is ‘Auwo,’ and felt like we were getting closer to the core habitat of where the black-naped pheasant-pigeon lives.”

They placed a total of 12 camera traps on the slopes of Mt. Kilkerran, which is the island’s highest mountain. And they placed another eight cameras in locations where local hunters reported seeing the bird in the past.

A hunter named Augustin Gregory, based in the mountain village Duda Ununa, provided the final breakthrough that helped scientists locate the pheasant-pigeon.

Gregory told the team that he had seen the black-naped pheasant-pigeon in an area with “steep ridges and valleys,” says the news release. And he had heard the bird’s distinctive calls.

So the expedition team placed a camera on a 3,200-foot high ridge near the Kwama River above Duda Ununa, according to the release. And finally, just as their trip was ending, they captured footage of the bird walking on the forest floor.

The discovery was a shock for the scientists and the local community alike.

“The communities were very excited when they saw the survey results, because many people hadn’t seen or heard of the bird until we began our project and got the camera trap photos,” said Serena Ketaloya, a conservationist from Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, in the news release. “They are now looking forward to working with us to try to protect the pheasant-pigeon.”

It’s still not clear just how many of the black-naped pheasant-pigeon are left, and the rugged terrain will make identifying the population difficult. A two-week survey in 2019 failed to find any proof of the bird, although it did discover some reports from hunters that helped determine the locations for the 2022 expedition.

And the discovery might provide hope that other bird species thought extinct are still out there somewhere.

“This rediscovery is an incredible beacon of hope for other birds that have been lost for a half century or more,” said Christina Biggs, the manager for the Search for Lost Species at Re:wild, in the release. “The terrain the team searched was incredibly difficult, but their determination never wavered, even though so few people could remember seeing the pheasant-pigeon in recent decades.”

Rare Pigeon Species Rediscovered in Papua New Guinea After 140 Years

An expedition team made up of scientists and conservationists began their search to rediscover the bird in September

By Kimberlee Speakman

Published on November 17, 2022 06:46 PM

A rare pigeon species was documented for the first time in 140 years after a group of scientists and conservationists got photos of a black-naped pheasant-pigeon on Fergusson Island, a small island off the coast of eastern Papua New Guinea.

“After a month of searching, seeing those first photos of the pheasant-pigeon felt like finding a unicorn,” said John C. Mittermeier, the director of the lost birds program at the American Bird Conservancy and the co-leader of the expedition. “It is the kind of moment you dream about your entire life as a conservationist and birdwatcher.”

The last known time this elusive bird — which can be identified by its large size and pheasant-like tail — was found and documented was in 1882.

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The expedition team sought to rediscover the animal and set out in early September to find it. They traveled across the island and spoke with different villagers and community members to understand what locations would be best for camera traps to capture the bird.

The interviews led them to the slope of Mt. Kilkerran; there, the group set up 12 camera traps along the mountain slopes and eight additional cameras where hunters recalled previously seeing the birds.

One specific tip from a hunter from the Duda Ununa village near Mt. Kilkerran led to the find. The hunter, Augustin Gregory, told the team he had seen the bird and heard its calls in an area with steep ridges and valleys near the village.

The team set up a camera, per Gregory’s reports, on a ridge near the Kwama River, and that device captured photos of the bird two days before the team was scheduled to leave the island.

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“When we collected the camera traps, I figured there was less than a one percent chance of getting a photo of the black-naped pheasant-pigeon,” said Jordan Boersma, conservation biologist and co-leader of the expedition team. “The,n as I was scrolling through the photos, I was stunned by this photo of this bird walking right past our camera.”

A previous expedition to find the black-naped pheasant-pigeon in 2019 was unsuccessful. However, scientists used the information from that trip to help them identify locations to set up cameras for their 2022 expedition.

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The team said these new photos could help with protection efforts.

“As well as giving hope for searches for other lost species, the detailed information collected by the team has provided a basis for the conservation of this extremely rare bird, which must indeed be highly threatened, together with the other unique species of Fergusson Island,” said Roger Safford, senior program manager for preventing extinctions at BirdLife International.