“It’s extraordinarily unusual.” The stunning late-September rediscovery could not have happened without guidance from local hunters with intimate knowledge of the island’s forests, the researchers say, demonstrating the invaluable role of Indigenous communities in ongoing efforts to relocate species lost to Western science.With its existence confirmed, the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon is almost certainly the most endangered bird in New Guinea, which underscores the urgent need to protect its habitat on Fergusson, a rugged, 555-square-mile island that, while largely undeveloped, faces pressure from logging companies.Boersma previously searched for the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon in 2019 with Jason Gregg, a conservation biologist and Audubon magazine contributor, and local biologist Doka Nason.“Knowing what we know about bird extinction and conservation on islands around the world, we can expect that the combination of logging and introduced species, especially introduced mammals, is going to have an impact,” Gregg says.“This land and the fate of any conservation work that happens on this land is completely up to the communities that live there and own the land.” Beyond Fergusson Island’s luxuriant forests, the rediscovery of the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon raises hopes that future expeditions will turn up other species lost to science"