A huge bird that was last seen 150 years ago was spotted

This month, scientists spotted a giant bird that had not been seen in the forests for 150 years.

Biologist at Imperial College London, Joseph Tobias, and independent ecologist, Robert Williams, spotted a Chilean vulture owl in the Attiwa rainforest in Ghana on October 16, according to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”.

Tobias and Williams, who are in Ghana to study the biological effects of agricultural development in Africa, as part of a UK government-funded project, discovered the rare owl when they accidentally disturbed it during the day.

Dr Tobias said: “The owl was very big, and at first we thought it was an eagle, and fortunately it was walking on a low branch, and when we raised our heads we opened our mouths in astonishment, there is no other owl in the rainforests of Africa of this size.”

While the owl remained stationary for only 10 to 15 seconds before it flew away, the two scientists succeeded in taking pictures of it that can confirm its species, which is characterized by its black eyes, yellow beak, large size, and striped decoration on its body.

'Holy grail' giant owl that hasn't been seen in 150 YEARS is finally spotted in a rainforest in Ghana — raising hopes for the survival of the vulnerable species https://t.co/Z73VvoXAYH pic.twitter.com/SBqIpvkzGp

— Showbiz (@showbiznotices) October 22, 2021

The last time a Chilean eagle owl was seen definitively was in Ghana in the 1870s.
The past few decades have seen many alleged sightings of a Chilean eagle owl in Central and West Africa, as well as as far afield as Angola and Liberia, but not all have been confirmed.

It has also been reported in the past that owls can be heard, which is higher in pitch than other owls’ vocalizations.

Biodiversity expert Nathaniel Anurba, from Ghana’s University of Environment and Sustainable Development, confirmed that spotting a Chilean vulture owl again after those long years is an “exciting discovery”, as he described it.

He added:

“We’ve been searching for this mysterious bird for years in the western lowlands, so finding it here in the ridgetop forests of the eastern region is a big surprise.”

The Chilean vulture owl was first described in 1872 by the famous British ornithologist Richard Baudler Sharpe, a curator of the Natural History Museum of the Bird Collection in London, after obtaining a specimen from a local hunter in Ghana.

And the two scientists, Joseph Toubian and Robert Williams, expressed their great hope that efforts would be made to protect endangered species, after they spotted the rare owl.