Scientists rediscover black-naped pheasant pigeon, a rare bird that was last sighted almost 140 years ago

According to a story by the Independent, scientists have rediscovered the black-naped pheasant pigeon, a rare bird that was last seen in Papua New Guinea approximately 140 years ago. The research team’s video footage showed the bird in Papua New Guinea’s dense jungles.

The chicken-sized bird is among 20 ‘lost’ birds that have not been sighted for over a century.

Since it was initially described in 1882, the bird species has not been observed by biologists.

According to the BBC, the study team that shot the movie worked for a month, interviewing residents and setting up camera traps. In September, they ultimately had success.

‘It felt like finding a unicorn,’ John C Mittermeier, director of the lost birds programme at the American Bird Conservancy and a co-leader of the eight-member expedition, told the BBC. ‘To find something that’s been gone for that long, that you’re thinking is almost extinct, and then to figure out that it’s not extinct, it feels like finding a unicorn or a Bigfoot,’ he said.

A similar attempt at rediscovering the black-naped pheasant pigeon failed earlier in 2019 at Fergusson Island near Papua New Guinea. However, this year the team tasted success and found the bird on the western slope of Mount Kilkerran – the island’s highest peak.