How birders in Chad 'found' the rusty lark, a bird lost to science for nearly a century

French ornithologists Pierre Defos du Rau and Julien Birard, working with Chadian colleagues, photographed the rusty lark in February 2026 at Abou Telfane Game Reserve—the first images of this Sahel wetland species recorded by scientists in nearly 100 years, providing the first visual documentation of a bird known to science but long unstudied.

Little is yet known about the bird's life cycle, habitat, or threats it faces; rediscovery alone does not guarantee protection without sustained conservation funding and action.