A rare bald songbird has been hiding out in the rocky limestone cliffs of central Laos.

Dubbed the “bare-faced bulbul” because of its unusual feather-free head, the newly discovered species is the only example of a bald songbird in Asia and the first new type of bulbul reported in the last hundred years.

It’s not clear how such a distinctive-looking bird escaped detection for so long, but the creature’s preference for rugged terrain probably played a role. The rocky limestone-dominated regions of Laos are generally uninhabitable by humans but home to a variety of unique animals, including new species of rabbit and rat discovered in the last decade.

Biologist Robert J. Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society caught a glimpse in 1995 of what looked like a songbird with a bald head. He recorded the strange sighting in his field notebook, but omitted it from published account, because the idea of a bald bulbul seemed far-fetched.

“RJT subsequently weathered a fair amount of good-natured ribbing on relating the sighting to skeptical colleagues,” wrote the researchers in a paper introducing the new bird, published July in the birding journal Forktail.

Now, 13 years later, Timmins has been vindicated: Two more scientists spotted a small grey bird with an orange, featherless face and a distinctive song. Using recordings of the first animal’s call, the researchers attracted at least six more of the bizarre bald-faced birds. They captured one and sent it to a museum to compare with known species to confirm it is a new species, which the scientists named Pycnonotus hualon.

“Bald songbirds are unusual in general, not only in Asia,” wrote conservation biologist Peter Clyne of the Wildlife Conservation Society. “While in some birds, such as the vultures, it probably evolved as a feature that enabled more efficient feeding, in many species it is more likely that baldness evolved as a means of display.”

No one knows exactly why this particular bulbul went bald, but Clyne suspects its featherless face evolved as a way to attract mates. So take note, middle-aged men: Bald is beautiful, at least if you’re a bird.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/baldbird/