The Jerdon's Babbler (chrysomma altirostre altirostre) -- a small brown bird similar in size to a house sparrow -- was last spotted in Myanmar in 1941 and was thought to have died out altogether.
But a team of scientists in May 2014 managed to uncover multiple birds nesting in a small area of grassland in Myanmar's central Bago region, according to their report published in the latest edition of Birding Asia.
At one small patch of grassland near an abandoned agricultural station, the team heard what they thought could be the babbler's distinctive call, successfully recorded it and then played it.
"The bird readily came in to playback and revealed itself to be a magnificent adult Jerdon's Babbler," the team from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Myanmar's Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division and the National University of Singapore wrote in their report.
Scientists in Singapore warned that the bird's survival is still far from guaranteed given pressure on Myanmar's few remaining grasslands.
"This discovery not only proves that the species still exists in Myanmar but that the habitat can still be found as well," Colin Poole, director of Wildlife Conservation Society's regional hub in Singapore, said in a statement.
"Future work is needed to identify remaining pockets of natural grassland and develop systems for local communities to conserve and benefit from them," he added.
Myanmar has more species of bird than any other country in mainland Southeast Asia, with ornithologists saying this number is likely to increase if more scientific research is conducted.
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