Charles Darwin saw this Galápagos bird on Floreana Island in 1835, then it wasn't seen again for almost 200 years | Travel News

The Galápagos rail, locally known as the Pachay and endemic to the Galápagos Islands, was last documented on Floreana Island by Charles Darwin in 1835. It was considered locally extinct and slated for reintroduction from other Galápagos islands—until a recent field study confirmed its presence.

Before the rail was officially recorded at three different locations on the island, a local resident and conservationist reported a possible sighting during the fieldwork. The confirmation included six acoustic recordings, two visual observations, and a photograph.

This marks the first confirmed sighting of the rail in nearly two centuries, coinciding with the Floreana Island Restoration Project launched in 2023. Led by environmental organizations and the island’s 160 residents, the initiative aims to eliminate invasive species such as rodents and feral cats from Floreana.

A similar resurgence occurred on nearby Pinzón Island in 2018, following the eradication of rodents there in 2012.

“The rediscovery of the Galápagos rail confirms what we’ve seen on islands worldwide – remove the invasive threats, and native species can recover in remarkable ways,” says Island Conservation’s Paula Castaño.

"This is an incredible win for Floreana, and fuels our excitement about what other native species might resurface as the island continues its journey toward ecological recovery.”

It remains unclear whether the rails naturally recolonized the island from nearby islands or had been there all along, surviving in extremely low numbers and undetected. The latter scenario is not unprecedented in the Galápagos—on Rábida Island, a gecko known only from subfossil records over 5,000 years old was rediscovered when conservation efforts enabled its population to grow again. Genetic analysis of the rail will be conducted to determine its origin.

The Galápagos rail was one of 12 animal species classified as locally extinct on Floreana, all of which conservationists had planned to reintroduce. This group includes the Floreana giant tortoise (or its closely related hybrid ancestors), the Floreana mockingbird, the Floreana racer, and the Galápagos barn owl.