If the regent honeyeater is ‘voted off the island’ in the bird of the year poll, its love song may be lost forever | Sean Dooley

Where once they roamed in vast flocks, today there are fewer than 350 in the wild. Now when it sings for a mate across a vast canyon, its lovelorn call is met by silence

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The second saddest sound I've ever heard is a recording of the song of the last Kauai .

This dark, Hawaiian songbird with a name pronounced appropriately enough as if you've made a stupid mistake, was not exactly a stunning-looking bird, its call not the most musical. However, the sound of the last male singing into the still of the mountain forests of Kauai to attract a female is heartbreaking as no bird ever answered.