If no mental picture comes to mind when you read the words “New Britain goshawk,” it’s not you. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), no one’s ever photographed a live New Britain goshawk (Accipiter princeps)—that is, until this past March, and wildlife officials have only just announced the news. It really goes to show you how much there’s still left to discover on Earth.
The New Britain goshawk is a rare bird of prey that only lives on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. WWF says the last scientific record of this bird is from 1969, and the specimen is at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Tom Vierus is the photographer who captured the incredible first image of the New Britain goshawk in March 2024. Vierus was on a WWF-led trip to the island when he spotted the animal. Local community members were leading Vierus and his group through the forest, and Vierus was taking photographs of several bird species.
“I wasn’t aware of the significance at the time,” Vierus told WWF. “It was such a great surprise to hear that this photo seems to be the first-ever of this ‘lost species’!”
Ornithologists confirmed that the bird in the photo is indeed a New Britain goshawk. WWF says although multiple people have claimed to see this bird, no one has captured it in a photograph or on film in the 55 years since someone found the deceased specimen.
See Vierus’s photo here (or check out a larger version here):
Have you heard of this rare bird?