“Five ‘missing’ bird species — not seen, heard or documented in the wild for a decade or more — were ‘found’ in 2025, according to the 2026 annual update to the Lost Birds List. It’s a tally of species that haven’t been photographed, recorded or their genetic footprint detected for more than a decade. Another extraordinary rediscovery came earlier this year: A bird ‘missing’ for 94 years was documented in Chad.

With the new changes, the overall number of ‘lost’ birds, as defined in a 2022 study, dropped to 120 from the 163 listed when the list was first published in 2022. The list is maintained by the Search for Lost Birds project, a global partnership between the NGOs American Bird Conservancy, Re:wild and BirdLife International.

Six species considered lost since 2016 will be added to the list in 2026.”

From Mongabay.