Black-lored waxbills recently photographed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Manuel Weber / Upemba National Park

Lost to science for more than 70 years, the black-lored waxbill was only recently rediscovered in a marshy region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Now, researchers have published the first clear photographs of the bird ever taken in the wild.

The black-lored waxbill was first described by science in 1927, by an ornithologist named James Chapin, who was leading an expedition for the American Museum of Natural History. Chapin, who had come upon a flock of waxbills near the Lualaba River, noticed several features that distinguished these birds from common waxbills, such as their short bills, gray cheeks, and black eye patches. The birds were documented on three other occasions, the last of which was in 1950.

It was not until 2023 that black-lored waxbills were spotted again, this time by biologist Manuel Weber, then an intern with Upemba National Park.…