Photographer accidentally photographs a “lost” bird species unseen for 55 years

Photographer, filmmaker, and marine ecologist Tom Vierus recently made a groundbreaking discovery while on a WWF expedition in Papua New Guinea. While snapping photos of birds, he stumbled upon a bird that he couldn’t identify. Intrigued, he uploaded a photo of the bird to iNaturalist, a platform for identifying plants and animals. It turned out he’d photographed a New Britain goshawk (Accipiter princeps), a species that had not been documented since 1969!

Let me fill you in on iNaturalist first. Perhaps you remember the app we wrote about in 2019. It’s called Seek, and iNaturalist launched it five years ago as a kind of “Shazam for the natural world.” When you open the app, you can scan a plant, bug, animal, or mushroom, and the app will recognize it for you and give you more information about it. I’ve used it ever since I wrote about it, and I absolutely love it.

Now, other than using the app to identify flora and fauna, you can also post your photos to iNaturalist forum and have the community help you. Sometimes the app doesn’t recognize the exact species, or you just want to go straight to the community.

Anyhow, Tom posted his bird image to iNaturalist, and the response was unexpected, to say the least. Most commenters suggested that the bird he’d photographed was a lost species. John Mittermeier, Director of the Search for Lost Birds at American Bird Conservancy, confirmed this in a WWF press statement, he said:

“The last documented scientific record of the species appears to be a July 1969 specimen that is kept in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, USA. While there have been multiple sight-only records in the intervening years, the New Britain Goshawk seems to have eluded photo, sound, and specimen documentation for 55 years.”

Oscar Pileng, WWF’s Pomio-based officer, said:

“I have discussed this discovery with local residents and leaders in the area where the New Britain Goshawk was photographed. They shared that this species is definitely rare in Pomio. Some confirmed that this species is not found in coastal areas but only in the hinterlands of Pomio, and is rarely seen. In local languages, the New Britain Goshawk is called ‘keango’ or ‘kulingapa’.

I was amazed to hear that this is the first time it has been photographed, but am very happy that an official global record now exists and I hope that this means more efforts are made to protect its habitat from the threats of large-scale agriculture, logging, mining and infrastructure development.”

Tom’s remarkable discovery is now also on the Lost Birds website, where the New Britain goshawk is now listed as “found.” Tom said that it was a great surprise for him to hear that his photo was the first-ever of this “lost species.” “It is wonderful to see how conservation photography can help in safeguarding areas by documenting the existing biodiversity and also a good reminder of how important visual storytelling is,” he said. “I truly hope this mostly pristine part of the world can remain as intact as possible with the help of the local communities, their already existing conservation initiatives and the support of WWF.”

[via The Dodo]

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