Cool Finds

This Colorful Parrot Had Been Seen Only Once Over the Past Century. Birders Just Rediscovered It in an Unexplored Indonesian Forest

First described in the 1920s from seven specimens, the blue-fronted lorikeet hadn’t been spotted since 2014. Bird-watchers on a recent trek snapped photos of the rare bird and captured the first known audio recordings of its calls

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

June 8, 2026 10:00 a.m.

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John Mittermeier was trekking through the remote highlands of Buru, Indonesia, in April when he spotted two small birds darting between the trees.

He raised his binoculars for a closer look. When he peered through the lenses, he felt a wave of surprise, followed by a rush of excitement, when he realized he was looking at a blue-fronted lorikeet.

“There’s this bright, lime-green lorikeet with a brilliant orange bill peering down at me through the leaves,” Mittermeier tells Smithsonian magazine.

It was the first sighting of the diminutive parrot since 2014 and just the second record of the species since it was first described more than a century ago, the nonprofit American Bird Conservancy announced on June 3.

Mittermeier is an ornithologist with the American Bird Conservancy and the director of the Search for Lost Birds, a global initiative led by the organization, along with Re:wild and BirdLife International. In 2025, the groups added the blue-fronted lorikeet to their list of lost birds, or species that hadn’t been documented in at least a decade, so Mittermeier’s sighting was a welcome relief—proof that the colorful winged creatures still exist.

“Experiences like this are the reason I love working on lost birds,” Mittermeier tells Smithsonian. “The fact that this lorikeet survives in the mountains of Buru and that we can have a chance to help protect it tells us there is hope for species and biodiversity in general. For me, a rediscovery like this is about hope.”

The blue-fronted lorikeet is a small parrot that lives only on Buru, a large island in Indonesia’s Maluku archipelago. Scientists first described the distinctive birds based on seven specimens collected from Buru’s lowland and mid-elevation forests in the 1920s. After that, however, the bird seemed to vanish.

Then, in 2014, ornithologist Craig Robson was leading a birding tour for the company Birdquest when he spotted at least two blue-fronted lorikeets and snapped a few photographs—the first known images of the species.

The trail went cold until earlier this year, during a 14-day expedition led by Indonesian mountaineering group Kanal Buru. The group, which included members of American Bird Conservancy, Birdtour Asia and Yayasan Planet Indonesia, explored a new route to the top of the 8,850-foot Mount Kapalatmada, the Buru’s highest peak.

They’d been climbing for six days when Mittermeier made his initial sighting on the mountain’s park-like highland plateau. Two days later, the group spotted another blue-fronted lorikeet while they were eating breakfast—and, this time, they were able to photograph it.

After a Century With Only One Sighting, Indonesia's Blue-fronted Lorikeet Found in Unexplored Forest

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On their last morning in the highlands, the birders spotted a pair of blue-fronted lorikeets and captured the first known sound recordings of the species’ calls. In total, Mittermeier estimates the group saw at least nine individuals throughout the trip.

The journey was arduous, with biting ants, hard-to-navigate terrain, bad weather, thorny plants and no water. But for James Eaton, an ornithologist and tour leader for Birdtour Asia, the hardships were all worth it for a chance to see such a rare and elusive creature, which he describes as the group’s “holy grail.”

“It’s a feeling adrenaline junkies would ​know well,” Eaton tells Reuters’ Marta Serafinko. “It makes ⁠all the researching, reading, plotting—some of which are years in the making—totally justified. It makes you feel alive. … These moments of ⁠joy and discovery ​are a healthy reminder of what a beautiful world is there.”

The fact that only a handful of the birds have ever been spotted suggests they inhabit a very small area, likely sticking only to Buru’s high-elevation montane forests. Conservationists are thrilled the species hasn’t gone extinct, but they remain concerned about its future.

“This bird inhabits areas under continuous pressure from deforestation, with a population estimated to be exceedingly small and vulnerable,” says Benny A. Siregar, Maluku coordinator for the nonprofit conservation group Burung Indonesia, also known as the Indonesian Wild Bird Conservation Association, in the statement. There is currently too little data on the blue-fronted lorikeet for the International Union for Conservation of Nature to determine whether it belongs on the organization’s threatened species list.

Mittermeier adds that, in parts of Indonesia, other parrot populations are at risk from trapping for the pet trade. Additionally, he notes to Smithsonian, many island birds are threatened by introduced predators such as rats and feral cats.

Threats aside, the rediscovery of the blue-fronted lorikeet is a reminder that other lost birds may still be out there. Last year, researchers spotted five lost species for the first time in more than a decade: the Bismarck kingfisher in Papua New Guinea, the Biak myzomela and broad-billed fairywren in Indonesia, and the Sulu cuckooshrike and rufous-breasted blue flycatcher in the Philippines.

Bird species can be lost for numerous reasons, Mittermeier says. Some have indeed gone extinct, while others may be perilously close to disappearing. Others, like the blue-fronted lorikeet, might just be difficult to find.

“From a scientific perspective, all of these results are valuable,” he says. “But from an emotional perspective, finding a lost species that appears to be doing well in good habitat—as seems to be the case with the [blue-fronted] lorikeet—is by far the best result. A moment like this, where a species is found and there is potential to protect it is the best possible outcome in the world of lost species.”

As of January 2026, 121 bird species are now considered lost around the world—and Mittermeier is hopeful many of them can still be found.

“Trying to find lost species is difficult and … can be depressing,” he says. “Sometimes searching for a lost species can be like writing the obituary for something that is gone. It’s the positive results and the rediscovery like this that make all those challenges worth it.”

Editor’s note, June 8, 2026: This story was updated to change parakeet to parrot in the headline. 

Sarah Kuta | Read More

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.