26 Nov 2024 / Slender-billed Curlew (BOW; Search for Lost Birds),
There have recently been some incredible stories of lost birds being rediscovered. The Black-naped Pheasant-pigeon was photographed after 126 years, the Santa Marta Sabrewing was found after 76 years, the New Britain Goshawk was documented for the first time in 55 years, to name a few. Sadly though, not all lost birds can be rediscovered.
This reality is highlighted by the recent publication of a study led by scientists at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, BirdLife International, Naturalis, and Natural History Museum London concluding that the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) is extinct. Previously considered critically endangered, this elegant shorebird once bred in central Asia and south Siberia and wintered in wetlands around the Mediterranean basin and Arabian Peninsula. Migrating Slender-billed Curlews passed through central and eastern Europe turning up at locations in Hungary, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, among others.*
Last documented in 1995, the curlew was a lost bird that had been missing for 29 years...This article is continued on the Search for Lost Birds website.
Note: The image above was taken by Richard Porter in Yemen, in 1984. The field notes below were recorded in an Important Bird Area in Turkiye (Turkey) in 1986.
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