Thursday, 25 February 2021

'Return' of the Black-browed Babbler?

The beastie shown is a Bali starling (it's not easy to get to Borneo at present and I'm not too used to working in rainforests). In Borneo itself, there has been a first sighting of a bird not seen since the 1840s (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/25/black-browed-babbler-found-in-borneo-180-years-after-last-sighting). The bird in question is the Black-browed babbler (Malacocincla perspicillata). A single bird was collected by a nephew of Napoleon, whilst on an expedition to the 'East Indies'. It has been preserved as a faded museum specimen but the bird was never (until now) recorded in the wild again. Two bird enthusiasts have now caught and photographed a new specimen of the babbler in the rainforests of Borneo. This 'rediscovery' type of story always generates more interest than reports of extinctions. It's a sad fact of life that 'rediscoveries' are much more unusual than extinctions (and you can't prove a negative in science).

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