- In February, French ornithologists and their Chadian colleagues spotted a bird not seen, heard or recorded by scientists in nearly a century while surveying water birds in Chad’s wetlands.
- The team, which included birders Pierre Defos du Rau and Julien Birard, photographed the rusty lark, a wetland species native to the Sahel, producing the first images of this mysterious bird.
- Though known to science for more than a century, the bird has remained an enigma, with little known about its life cycle, habitat or the threats it faces.
- Bird enthusiasts say they hope this accidental rediscovery could help Chad secure the money it needs for conservation in a game reserve devoid of the charismatic megafauna associated with Africa.
The morning of Feb. 2, 2026, started like many others for Pierre Defos du Rau and Julien Birard: It was hot and sunny with a gentle breeze, ideal birding weather. The two French ornithologists, who have been birding since their teens and have traveled the world in search of birds, were at Abou Telfane Game Reserve in central Chad, looking for migratory birds that visit Sahelian wetlands.
The duo has surveyed birds in Chad since 2016, they said, keeping detailed records of the winged visitors that fly across the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert to overwinter in the Sahel every year, and catch any signs of trouble.
Birds in the region face many threats: The construction of cities and farms drains their wetland homes; droughts — made more intense and frequent in a warming world — dry up water bodies; and some migratory species are hunted as bushmeat in conflict-prone countries, where food is scarce.
Defos du Rau works at the French Biodiversity Agency, while Birard is at the nonprofit Tour du Valat Research Institute. On that early February day, they were joined by Idriss Dapsia and Abakar Saleh Wachoum from the Chadian governmental department for wildlife and protected areas, as part of a collaboration between the two countries for biodiversity monitoring.
The team started the day with a plan in mind. “We had set ourselves the (unlikely) goal of searching for the Kordofan rufous sparrow,” Birard said, referring to a species found only in southwestern Sudan and across the border in Chad. This bird, Passer cordofanicus, hadn’t been seen or heard since 2018. The team arrived at a spot near villages and farmland at dawn, a peak time for bird-watching.
When they arrived, a group of three larks caught their attention. The birders confirmed they were Horsfield’s bush larks (Mirafra javanica), a relatively common species of lark in the region. But, as they looked around, they spotted their prize: A pair of Kordofan rufous sparrows stared at them from close distance for perhaps 30 seconds in perfect light.
“Our day was already a complete success thanks to this sighting,” Birard said. “We have been talking about this possibility of seeing this species for six years.”
Overwhelmed with what they saw, the birders rushed to their car to grab their gear — cameras, spotting scopes and recorders — but by the time they returned, the sparrows were gone. Still, that memorable day had more in store.
A historical sighting of a ‘lost’ bird
While the ornithologists looked for the sparrows, a lonely lark that they couldn’t name caught their eyes. “We said to each other — ‘Did you see that lark on the ground over there? It’s strange, isn’t it?’” Birard said.
As they approached the bird, it retreated, hopping away to a safe distance.
“The lark wouldn’t let us get close enough to take good photos,” Birard said.
After about 20 minutes, they got close enough to get the first-ever photograph of what proved to be a rusty lark (Calendulauda rufa) — a “lost” bird not seen by scientists in nearly a century.
The rusty lark is native to the arid grasslands of Niger, Chad and Sudan. It’s about half a foot (about 15 cm) tall, feathered in rusty red and black hues. Scientists haven’t seen it or heard its song since 1931, when ornithologists recorded it in what is now Niger.
Scientists have written about this lark without any convincing evidence of having seen or heard it in the last 94 years. According to Defos du Rau, it was described as “abundant” in eastern Chad in the 1960s by the French ornithologist Jean Salvan and as “fairly common in open bushed grassland” in western Sudan in the 1980s by German ornithologist Gerhard Nikolaus. “But none of them were apparently lucky enough to get a photograph of their observation,” he said.
It was on the Lost Bird List, a tally of species that haven’t been photographed, recorded or had their genetic footprint detected for more than a decade.
Luck favors the prepared, and the team in Chad that day had done their due diligence. They had meticulously recorded every lark they came across in the last two years and collected identification information on birds historically recorded in the region. “We knew this species wasn’t seen for decades,” Defos du Rau said, adding that their preparedness helped them realize what an astounding bird they had just seen.
“We went through all the possibilities and kept coming to the conclusion that it fit the description of a rusty lark, but we didn’t really dare to believe it,” Birard said.
Defos de Rau added: “That same day, we emailed our identification to experts for validation, and they confirmed it — with enthusiasm — within hours.”
The team saw the same individual at the same spot a day later, and once more on Feb. 15.
A lark steeped in mystery
Scientists have found more than 40 “lost“ birds since the Search for Lost Birds project launched in 2021 as a global partnership between the American Bird Conservancy, Re:wild and BirdLife International. The sighting of the rusty lark brings the number on that list to 120, down from 163 when it started five years ago. In 2025, five of these “missing“ species, all endemic to islands in Southeast Asia and Oceania, were “found.”
“Birders love these ideas of making lists, of looking for things that haven’t been found,” John Mittermeier, the project’s director, said in an interview with Mongabay in March 2026. “Part of the excitement there, and the surprise, is that you end up with things that have been lost for a long period of time that still get found, which I think is exciting.”
It’s through this list, Defos du Rau said, that his group learned about the rusty lark and started looking for it.
Though scientists have “rediscovered” this mystery bird, much about it remains unknown, including its habitat, behaviors, songs and how it’s faring in the wild. With only fleeting glimpses of a lone individual, Defos du Rau and Birard were unable to record any of its calls.
“We don’t even know if this species is threatened, but it is quite possible that it could be, in view of the paucity of recordings,” Defos du Rau said. The species is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List because of the relatively large size of its range across five African countries, but its population has never been assessed. In 2004, according to the Handbook of the Birds of the World this bird was said to be “generally scarce.”
The team said they hope their sighting is the first step in learning more about the rusty lark. “The next step should be to search for the species’ breeding areas in order to record its song for the first time and characterize its habitat,” Defos du Rau said.
But research requires money, which is hard to come by in a resource-strapped, conflict-hit country such as Chad, especially to conduct surveys in the protected area of Abou Telfane Game Reserve, which isn’t home to charismatic African megafauna.
“We would thus like to call for donors to support us toward these next steps in favor of our lonely species,” Defos du Rau said. “We hope that, at the very least, this sighting will draw greater national and international interest to Abou Telfane Game Reserve.”
Banner image: The rusty lark, a Sahelian native bird, was not seen or heard by scientists for 94 years. Image © J. Birard, I. Dapsia, P. Defos du Rau.
Spoorthy Raman is a staff writer at Mongabay, covering all things wild with a special focus on lesser-known wildlife, the wildlife trade, and environmental crime.
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Citations:
Carenton, N., Defos du Rau, P. D., Wachoum, A. S., Ducros, D., Suet, M., Deschamps, C., . . . Mondain‐Monval, J. (2024). Migration of humans fleeing conflict in the Lake Chad region may increase pressures on natural resources in Lake Fitri (Chad): A case study on waterbirds. Journal of Applied Ecology, 61(9), 2231–2243. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.14700
Long, B., & Rodríguez, J. P. (2022b). Lost but not forgotten: a new nomenclature to support a call to rediscover and conserve lost species. Oryx, 56(4), 481-482. doi:10.1017/s0030605322000618
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Cite this article
Spoorthy Raman (2026). How birders in Chad ‘found’ the rusty lark, a bird lost to science for nearly a century. Mongabay Conservation news. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323087Credits
