As part of the RESSOURCE+ project, coordinated by the FAO and co-financed by the European Union and the FFEM, a Franco-Chadian team from the Chad Directorate of Wildlife and Protected Areas (DFAP), the Tour du Valat and the OFB had the opportunity to make an exceptional observation of a bird that had not been documented for almost a century: the Rufous Lark Calendulauda rufa.
On 2 February 2026, Idriss Dapsia (DFAP), Julien Birard (Tour du Valat) and Pierre Defos du Rau (OFB) spent a long time observing, photographing and filming a Rusty Lark (Calendulauda rufa) in the Abou Telfane wildlife reserve, about ten kilometres east of the town of Mongo (Guéra province), in central Chad. The same individual was seen again on 15 February with Abakar Saleh Wachoum, RESSOURCE+ focal point, and Abdoulaye Mbaye, head of the Mongo wildlife sector.
Thanks to images taken in the field, this rediscovery was immediately confirmed by expert ornithologists from Chad (Joost Brouwer & Tim Wacher) and larks (Paul Donald & Per Alström). This observation is the first documented record of the species since 1931 and provides the world’s first photos of a living specimen of the Rusty Lark.
