- Researchers Stephanie Bartlett and Paulo Ditzel of the International Bird Conservation Partnership photographed a Ghana cuckooshrike in Taï National Park, Ivory Coast.
- The last documented sighting was in 2013, when one was photographed in Ghana’s Atewa Forest.
- The find means every currently recognized “lost bird” in West Africa has now been found.
A rare West African songbird that had not been documented since 2013 has been photographed, and possibly filmed for the first time ever, high in a rainforest canopy in Ivory Coast.
Stephanie Bartlett, of the International Bird Conservation Partnership, was crossing a bridge under the rainforest canopy in Taï National Park when she caught movement overhead.
“Cuckooshrike, cuckooshrike, cuckooshrike!” she shouted, as she started taking photographs and video, according to BirdGuides.
Bartlett and fellow researcher Paulo Ditzel believe the footage is the first video ever recorded of the species. It is also the first documented sighting since one was photographed in Ghana’s Atewa Forest in 2013.
The Ghana cuckooshrike, also known as the Western Wattled Cuckooshrike, lives only in the canopy of the Upper Guinea forests of West Africa. The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable, and its numbers are falling as logging and farming eat into its habitat.
Taï National Park is one of the largest remaining blocks of primary Upper Guinea rainforest and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is home to more than 250 bird species, along with forest elephants, pygmy hippos and chimpanzees.
The sighting closes a list. With the cuckooshrike found, every bird currently recognized as “lost” in West Africa has been seen again, following the rediscovery of the Rusty Lark earlier in 2026 and the Togo Yellow-billed Barbet in 2022.
