Our team of four researchers have successfully returned after spending a month of searching for the Black-Naped Pheasant Pigeon in a remote island archipelago 150 kilometres off the coast of Papua New Guinea.
The Black Naped Pheasant Pigeon (Otidiphaps insularis), a large species of ground-dwelling pigeon the size of a chicken, was first described in 1882 when it was collected by the famed naturalist-explorer Andrew Goldie. A classic example of a species adapted to an island environment with reduced resources and a lack of predators, this species of pigeon has evolved gigantism (very similarly to the famed Dodo) and a ground-dwelling lifestyle. Collected for the second and last time by the equally famed Albert Meek in 1896, it has never been seen in the wild since. Until our expedition took the first digital images of a single alive individual on the famed ‘Sacred Mountain’ of Mount Kilkerran on Fergusson Island.
Very little is known about this species, but it is likely a critically endangered species with an extremely small population of less than 500 individuals. Threats may include deforestation, mining and invasive rats.
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