- No one had seen a yellow-crested helmetshrike for about 20 years. The American Bird Conservancy thought of it a misplaced hen.
- An expedition to Africa – to the mountains of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – resulted in photographs of the hen.
- One researcher mentioned: “It was a mind-blowing experience to come across these birds. I was not prepared for how spectacular and unique they would appear in life.”
Lost hen noticed in African mountains
For the primary time in 20 years, scientists have captured photographs of a hen lengthy thought extinct. It’s the yellow-crested helmetshrike, or Prionops alberti, a species that the American Bird Conservancy had listed as misplaced. Now the hen has been discovered once more. Scientists from the University of Texas at El Paso made the invention throughout a six-week expedition to the Itombwe Massif, a mountain vary in japanese Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the continent of Africa.
Its rediscovery is official. Cameron Rutt, chief of the Lost Birds undertaking on the American Bird Conservancy, has reviewed and confirmed the photographs of the helmetshrikes.
Michael Harvey, an ornithologist and UTEP assistant professor within the Department of Biological Sciences, mentioned:
It was a mind-blowing expertise to return throughout these birds. We knew they is likely to be doable right here, however I used to be not ready for the way spectacular and distinctive they would seem in life.
Harvey co-led the expedition with UTEP Professor of Biological Sciences Eli Greenbaum. They have been joined by ornithologist Matt Brady, in addition to a bunch of Congolese researchers from the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles, together with Chifundera Kusamba, Robert Kizungu Byamana, Chance Bahati Muhigirwa, Mwenebatu M. Aristote and Wandege M. Muninga.
A mountainous expedition
The staff trekked on foot for over 75 miles (120 km) by means of the depths of the Itombwe Massif, finding out birds, amphibians and reptiles alongside the best way.
While exploring the cloud forests on the slopes of a mountain, Harvey and Brady stumbled upon the helmetshrike. It’s a placing black hen with a brilliant yellow “helmet.” The staff mentioned they appeared as relatively:
… Noisy and energetic teams within the midstory of the forest.
The hen is endemic to the western slopes of the Albertine Rift of Central Africa, in line with Harvey. It’s a area that has been largely inaccessible resulting from struggle and safety points however has lately change into safer to go to.
A fruitful expedition
In whole, about 18 birds have been discovered at three websites through the expedition. Harvey said:
This conjures up hope that maybe the species nonetheless has a fairly wholesome inhabitants within the distant forests of the area. But mining and logging in addition to the clearing of forests for agriculture are making inroads deep into the forests of the Itombwe vary. We are in discussions with different researchers and conservation organizations to additional efforts to guard the area’s forests and the helmetshrike.
Right now could be a golden alternative to guard these tropical forests, so we don’t lose species just like the helmetshrike earlier than they’re identified and studied.
The expedition, which ran from December 2023 to January 2024, yielded different necessary discoveries. The herpetology staff rediscovered the red-bellied squeaker frog, or Arthroleptis hematogaster, which had not been seen because the Nineteen Fifties. The frog rediscovery has been confirmed by David Blackburn, professor on the University of Florida’s Museum of Natural History.
Bottom line: During an expedition into the mountains of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, researchers rediscovered a “lost bird” – a yellow-crested helmetshrike – that nobody had seen in a few a long time.
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