India, Oct. 16 -- Good news about wildlife is rare, and this flightless island bird is worth a closer look. The Lord Howe woodhen, found nowhere else on earth, was reduced to just 9 breeding pairs in the 1970s, according to a media release from the NSW government. A survey in December 2024, announced in March 2025, puts the total at a minimum of 1,638 birds, a striking turnaround for a species that was once on the brink of extinction.

The woodhen is endemic to Lord Howe Island, off the mid-east coast of Australia. In their paper, Dean Portelli and Nicholas Carlile explain that the species was pushed to the brink of extinction by hunting pressure and introduced predators. The recovery program focused on feral pigs, cats, and goats. Lord H...