This is one of those stories that is almost too hard to believe. Worcester's Buttonquail (Turnix worcesteri)
is a small, striking bird, that has not been seen for decades and was believed to be extinct. It was noted mainly from museum skins and sketches.
Incredibly one had recently been photographed. Even more incredibly it was photographed at a food market in the Philippines, where it was subsequently sold for food and eaten!
Hat tip to John's A DC Birding Blog. Make sure you check out his post, which includes an account of a naturalist attempting to shoot a pair of Ivory-billed Woodpecker's, back when that was a common method of bird study, even knowing they were in serious decline.
Comments
3 responses
Wow. I remember seeing a headline this morning online about this. Pretty sad.
From our perspective, the presumed death of this quail is a blow to the survival of the species. However, the locals involved in the capture, sale, and presumed consumption of this bird are likely unaware of such issues. Their life experiences are quite different than ours, hence it may be a case of local economics trumping the welfare of the local avifauna. For a slightly different perspective on these issues, visit BirdFellow.com and check out the most recent journal posting.
Thx Darcy,
Hi OregonBirder,
You are absolutely right, although I gathered from a wikimedia article I read afterwards that there is some awareness of the wild bird for meat market sale and its threats locally. It has been going on in the past. I also gather from the article that that TV crew was also not aware of the status of the bird, and only became aware of it when an ornithologist saw the bird picture in the credits of their documentary.
The other side is that no one really knows how rare or threatened the bird is. It is certainly not common but apparently has a very secretive nature and data just doesn’t exist on it.