Ghana Cuckooshrike Filmed for First Time in Taï National Park After 13 Years Unseen

Key facts

• The Ghana Cuckooshrike was filmed for the first time ever in Taï National Park, Ivory Coast
• Researchers Stephanie Bartlett and Paulo Ditzel of the International Bird Conservation Partnership made the discovery during a six-month West African expedition
• The species had not been reliably seen for 13 years, last photographed in Kakum National Park in 2010 and Atewa Forest Reserve in 2013
• It was one of 126 birds classified as "lost" to science, meaning unconfirmed for at least a decade
• Bartlett captured the highest-quality photographs ever taken of the species and the first known video
• The bird typically stays 65 to 165 feet above ground, joins mixed-species flocks, and no audio recording of it exists
• John Mittermeier of the American Bird Conservancy's Search for Lost Birds said Bartlett's images are "probably the best photos ever taken of this bird"
• The discovery came months after the Rusty Lark, thought extinct for nearly a century, was photographed for the first time