Rediscovering a Lost Babbler

Myanmar’s Jerdon’s Babbler, a small brown bird with an affinity for grassland, lived in the country’s rolling hills for centuries. But as humans turned the habitat into settlements and rice farms, the bird population plummeted. With the last recorded sighting dating back to July 1941, the bird was gone for good. 

Or so it seemed. 

Last year satellite images revealed a remaining patch of undisturbed grassland. Intrigued by the notion that the long-lost songbird might have held out there, in May a team from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the National University of Singapore went to investigate. After just an hour of birding near an abandoned agriculture station just outside the town of Myitkyo, they heard an unusual song. They recorded the sound, and played it back, hoping to catch the attention of the caller. The lure worked. Over the course of two days, they spotted several of the “extinct” babblers, even briefrely handling some of the birds to take blood samples. 

What’s more, the back-from-the-dead bird might be a species all of its own, according to their study, published in BirdingASIA. Currently, Myanmar’s Jerdon’s Babbler is regarded as one of three subspecies of Jerdon’s Babbler. But there are clear bioacoustic differences between the songs of Myanmar sub-species, known scientifically as Chrysomma altirostre altirostre, and others, biologist Frank Rheindt, one of the researchers who found the birds, explained in the statement. Further investigation of the little bird’s DNA will tell if it is indeed a distinct species. 

Nomenclature aside, the researchers are now focused on protecting the bird by protecting its habitat. When Myanmar’s Jerdon’s Babbler was discovered in 1862 by naturalist T. C. Jerdon, the area was rich with all kinds of avifauna. After years of agricultural development, the expansion of fish and poultry farming further threatens the degraded habitat. Today, it “bears no resemblance to the landscape of Jerdon’s day,” the researchers write. 

Luckily, the small slice of habitat where the bird hung on has remained intact, thanks to an odd designation as an experimental plot for an agricultural institute. 

Preserving Myanmar’s grasslands could help other bird species too, like the Eastern Grass Owls that nest among the tall blades. The team will continue to research how to best preserve the area—though we can’t help but hope they turn their attention to “rediscovering” the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.