Lost and found: twitchers delight at sweet song of the black-browed babbler

Since the bird was rediscovered' by accident in Borneo in 2020, ornithologists have returned to study the melodious species last documented more than 170 years ago

For more than 170 years, and despite its name, scientists and birdwatchers heard no babbling, chirping, tweeting or any other sounds from the black-browed babbler. The bird was long assumed to be extinct, until an accidental discovery by two local men, Muhammad Suranto and Muhammad Rizky Fauzan, in the forests of Borneo's South Kalimantan province.

I was out looking for forest products at the limestone hill just behind my home," recalls Suranto. I often look for birds and leftover wood to sell. We caught one of these birds on 5 October 2020. I'd seen it for a while, but I was never able to know its species."