Ivory Coast: An Elusive Bird Species Rediscovered and Filmed for the First Time

In the heart of West Africa’s tropical forests, a team of ornithologists observed a bird species with shimmering, colorful plumage that was thought to be extinct for good: the bar-billed cuckooshrike.

Lobotos lobatus

Stephanie Bartlett and Paulo Ditzel, from the International Bird Conservation Partnership, were nearing the end of a six-month expedition dedicated to surveying the region’s birds, whose wooded and dense habitats are known to shelter iconic species such as the forest elephant, the pygmy hippopotamus, or the hornbill.

While they were in Taï National Park in Ivory Coast, they spotted a movement in the canopy and the characteristic hues of the plumage of a creature they never expected to see again. A meticulous review of their photographs and a short video sequence (which turns out to be the first footage of the species) confirmed that it was indeed Lobotos lobatus.

As explained in the press release from the International Bird Conservation Partnership, these are the first visual records of the bar-billed cuckooshrike since 2013, when the species had been photographed in Ghana’s Atewa forest. While its historical range stretching across the forests of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana, their exploitation and agricultural expansion have significantly reduced its numbers over the past decades.

This small passerine from the Campephagidae family measures about 21 centimeters in length and weighs around thirty grams. It is recognizable by its gray-brown plumage, with lighter underparts, and it also features bright yellow caruncles around the eyes and the beak. An insectivore, it feeds notably on caterpillars, grasshoppers, and mantises, which it catches in the canopy.

À la recherche des oiseaux disparus

Previously, L. lobatus was part of the 126 birds “lost to science,” for which there had been no confirmed sightings in the last decade.

Involving the NGO Re:wild, the American Bird Conservancy and BirdLife International, the initiative “Search for Lost Birds” has to date enabled the rediscovery of more than 40 species.

Among them, the Santa Marta Hummingbird (Campylopterus phainopeplus), filmed for the first time in 2022 after more than sixty years without observations, and the Red Lark. Believed extinct for more than a century, Calendulauda rufa had been photographed earlier this year by a French duo.