When I was younger, every time I stayed the night at my grandma’s place, I was always awoken by the sound of chirping birds, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Mockingbirds, and one very odd song. I never thought much of it until I asked my grandma about the bird. She said it was a little yellow warbler that visited each year, but she commented on how, with each year, she saw less and less of them, and the last time she personally heard the sound of them calling was in-between 2008-2011, but it could’ve just been mockingbirds remembering the calls from a few years back. I personally believe that bird was Bachman’s Warbler(Vermivora bachmani). I found this species after researching bird songs in my area for a while and it matched, but then researching more I found the species to be extinct since the 80s… Yes, it could’ve also been some other Vermivora species, or some other similar bird, but I still like to believe. Whatever species it was, it’s long gone from this area nowadays(Central/South MS).
I was wondering if anyone else has had experiences like mine, but never got the chance to get evidence, or never knew what they were looking at at the time.
I haven’t seen any entirely new species or previously-believed-extinct species, but I have seen a couple of species that are not known in my region, which is always exciting. It seems to happen a bit more often these days with climate change as ranges expand.
There’s been several times that I’ve posted insects or arthropods in general and they haven’t matched any of the documented species. Whether they are variations or actually new remains to be seen sometimes. And sometimes they are just unexpected species from other parts of the country that have only just showed up. Unfortunately I can’t just collect everything I see.
Save for one species I knew immediately was new, I collected that right away and am still waiting to hear about it.
