The World’s Least-Known Bird
January 19th, 2010 - 7:35 pm ICT by GDBy Gina Gomez
19 Jan, (THAINDIAN NEWS) In 2007, the large-billed reed warbler was referred as the ‘world’s least known bird.’ The bird is soon going to lose the title as some researchers collaborating with the Wildlife Conservation Society found out the breeding ground of the bird in the remote Wakhan Corridor in the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan. Colin Poole, the Executive Director of WCS’s Asia Program said, “Practically nothing is known about this species, so this discovery of the breeding area represents a flood of new information on the large-billed reed warbler. This new knowledge of the bird also indicates the Wakhan Corridor still holds biological secrets and is critically important for future conservation efforts in Afghanistan.”
The bird was first discovered in 1867 in India. Almost after a century in 2006, another specimen of this bird was seen in Thailand. In 2008, Robert Timmins heard an unfamiliar song coming from a small bird in Wakhan Corridor. Later, Robert Timmins visited the Natural History Museum in Tring, United Kingdom and he realized that large-billed reed warbler is a completely unknown species.
In June, the Wildlife Conservation Society researchers visited the site. They used Robert Timmin’s tape of the bird’s song. This process drew a lot of large-billed reed warblers on the spot. No one has ever seen so many birds of this species before. Later a DNA test confirmed that they were “world’s least-known bird.” In BirdingASIA, a paper describes the discovery of this bird as “a watershed moment” in the research of this species. The research is going on to collect more data and information about this rare species.
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Tags: asia program, breeding ground, colin poole, conservation efforts, dna test, gina gomez, large billed reed warbler, natural history museum, pamir mountains, rare species, reed warblers, s song, small bird, timmins, unfamiliar song, unknown species, wakhan corridor, watershed moment, wcs, wildlife conservation society