Elusive bird spotted near Papua New Guinea

[GoddessOfGuinness]

Source: MSNBC

Species thought extinct rediscovered; Beck’s petrel not seen for 80 years

By Regan McTarsney
updated 6:01 p.m. ET, Fri., March. 7, 2008

LONDON - A bird species not seen for 80 years has been rediscovered near Papua New Guinea, experts said Friday. The Beck's petrel, long thought to be extinct, was photographed last summer by an Israeli ornithologist in the Bismarck Archipelago, a group of islands northeast of New Guinea.

Hadoram Shirihai, who was leading an expedition to find the bird, photographed more than 30 Beck's petrels. Shirihai's photographs and his report were published in "The Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club" on Friday.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23526140/

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Nice to have some good news for a change...

[XemaSab]

1. K&R for the Beck's Petrel

:D

[shireen]

2. i hope there's enough of a viable population that will allow the species to recover.

But I feel pessimistic ... if there's only one photo and more birds have not been seen, we could be seeing the last of the Beck's Petrels.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. I hope so too...

30 birds could be a good start...especially if there are other undiscovered flocks. At one point, as I recall, there were only about 15 Whooping cranes left in the world.

[Lorien]

3. It would be great if they could make a comeback

I keep hearing about Tasmanian wolf sightings too- it would give me a small bit of hope to know that some had survived us.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. I wonder if the thylacine couldn't have taken refuge in swampland...

where there's plenty to eat, and people generally do not like to tread.

[xchrom]

4. ...

:applause:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. It's wonderful

to know they could elude us for so long. I hope there are many other species who've also managed...