“A lost species is one not confirmed alive by photographic, audio or genetic information for over 10 years in the wild and has no ex situ population under human care.” - Long and Rodríguez (2022)

Sure, birding is fun, but (re)discovering something new is really where it’s at! Search for Lost Birds is an initiative to rediscover a specific set of about 120 species not documented in the last decade. Some of these are right there, thriving and waiting to be documented, but due to a variety of reasons haven’t seen a birder in recent years. Think Snow Mountain-Robin, last photographed in 2018, which could soon join the list above, simply due to access issues! But besides this, far more enigmatic species are listed as well, some of which their populations are in free fall, or have maybe already vanished from the face of the Earth. Mysteries, waiting to be discovered!

In exciting news, we at Ornis Birding Expeditions are now funding grants in collaboration with the project of up to $5000 USD to inspire driven young birders (aged 18-30) to seek out and document the world’s most poorly known birds. Our team hopes that this will help the next generation of birdwatchers turn their passion into impactful work which helps fill some major gaps in global ornithology. Submissions close on the 20th of December 2025. Please share this with any young birders or birding groups that you know and visit www.ornis-birding.com/grants for more details on how to apply and what the conditions are!

We always try to be on the cutting-edge of birding ecotourism, and in fact our team managed to document two lost birds during tours last year (Mussau Triller and Bougainville Thicketbird), neither of which had been scientifically evidenced for more than 20 years! These were the foundation behind the grants, giving us the idea of helping to get skilled young birders out into regions which are rarely visited. You can find out more about the Search for Lost Birds and the Ornis discoveries by visiting https://searchforlostbirds.org/news/found-two-lost-birds-in-a-week-almost.

Joachim Bertrands
Tour leader – Ornis Birding Expeditions

Bougainville Thicketbird Cincloramphus llaneae, a lost bird for over 20 years, documented in 2024 on an Ornis Birding Expeditions tour! (Julien Mazenauer)