The hunt for the rarest bird in the world

Calyptura cristata, or the Kinglet Calyptura, is one of the rarest birds in Brazil and the entire planet. It is a tiny bright yellow flycatcher, with a yellowish-green back and a brilliant orange crest. With a wingspan of just around 8 centimeters, it is comparable in size to a tennis ball. And that is almost all that is known about this mysterious passerine species.

The Kinglet Calyptura was first described in the early 19th century, along with the majority of Brazil’s bird species. Foreigners weren’t allowed into the country until 1808, when the Portuguese court transferred to Rio de Janeiro, fleeing Napoleon’s invasion of Lisbon. After the ports opened up, scores of ornithologists and other biologists arrived and began collecting animal and plant specimens from this previously unknown land.

There are scores of specimens of the Kinglet Calyptura in museums around the world, most of them identified as being collected in Rio de Janeiro during a 50-to-60-year period in the 1800s. 

There are far fewer examples of other birds which today are more prevalent in the region, suggesting that the Kinglet Calyptura was once a common sight near Rio de Janeiro. But the recorded sightings and collected specimens stopped dead after the 1860s.

The rediscovery

Fast-forward to October 1996, more than 130 years without any sightings, and the bird was widely believed to have gone extinct. At least, that was until renowned ornithologist Ricardo Parrini spotted a pair on a tree canopy while out birdwatching in Rio de Janeiro.

“Everyone thought the Kinglet Calyptura was extinct,” Mr. Parrini tells The Brazilian Report. “I wasn’t holding out much hope either. So much so that, when I saw it, I seriously doubted whether I had actually seen it.”

Already regarded as among the cream of Brazil’s ornithology crop at that point, Mr. Parrini immediately phoned his good friend and colleague Fernando Pacheco, describing the mysterious sighting he had made.

In an article written in 2001, Mr. Pacheco describes this call as a “tease,” saying that Mr. Parrini “did not want to state categorically what he had seen, preferring to lead [me] to the same conclusion he had reached.” By his detailed description of the pair of brilliant yellow flycatchers, there could be no doubt that the Kinglet Calyptura had been rediscovered.

Immediately, the pair set about organizing an expedition to the sighting area, a cobblestoned path at the so-called Volta do Garrafão, in the Serra dos Órgãos National Park, a 90-minute drive from Rio de Janeiro city. They invited a group of other Brazilian ornithologists to help confirm the rediscovery. On...