A small mountainous island, Fergusson Island, off Papua New Guinea, is home to the Black-naped Pheasant-pigeon, Otidiphaps insularis. Though seen occasionally by local hunters, this Pheasant-pigeon has not been scientifically documented for 140 years. Until a research team from the American Bird Conservancy, Cornell University and the Papua New Guinea National Museum teamed up with local experts. Their persistence was rewarded with footage on a remote camera, of the bird walking around and fanning its tail.
The Black-naped Pheasant-pigeon is a large, ground-dwelling bird with a bobbing pheasant-like tail. Inhabiting primary rainforest, it forages on the forest floor. Worrying for its continued survival is the recent signing of a logging deal by the principal forest landowner. The few birds surviving are at great risk of losing their habitat.
Some ornithological authorities consider the Black-naped Pheasant-pigeon to be one of 4 subspecies of the Pheasant-pigeon, others that it is a monotypic full species:
• Pheasant-pigeon (Green-naped), Otidiphaps nobilis nobilis
• Pheasant-pigeon (White-naped), Otidiphaps nobilis aruensis
• Pheasant-pigeon (Gray-naped), Otidiphaps nobilis cervicalis
• Pheasant-pigeon (Black-naped), Otidiphaps insularis
Photo courtesy of the Search for Lost Birds project. Illustration by Jan Wilczur/Birds of the World.
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