Call to ACTION
BY the mid-1970s, only four Mauritius Kestrels remained in the wild, and many scientists had given them up for dead. Not Carl Jones, however. The Welsh biologist arrived on Mauritius, a tropical island in the Indian Ocean, determined to save the species at all costs. Employing a suite of innovative techniques, from artificial insemination to supplemental feeding, he was able to boost the population back into the hundreds, where it persists to this day.
Several other bird species have likewise rebounded after being reduced to just a few individuals, including the California Condor, Whooping Crane, Laysan Duck, Crested Ibis, Black Robin, and Seychelles Magpie-Robin. Jones himself saved four additional species endemic to the country of Mauritius: the Pink Pigeon, Echo Parakeet, Rodrigues Fody, and Rodrigues Warbler, each of which had a population below 20 at its lowest point.
These successes show that conservation efforts do often work in even the most seemingly hopeless cases. Yet bringing a bird back from the brink doesn’t come easy: blood, sweat, tears, and, especially, money are usually prerequisites.
That’s where BirdWatching readers come in. While the aforementioned species are all on the road to recovery, plenty of others find themselves in dire straits. Here are 10 birds worldwide perilously close to extinction, along with tips on how to help them.
1 Florida Grasshopper Sparrow
WHERE IT LIVES: Florida
ESTIMATED POPULATION: 100 (plus some captive-bred birds)
At the moment, the contiguous United States hosts no bird species in imminent danger of winking out. Certain U.S. subspecies, on the other hand, are in real jeopardy, most notably the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, which inhabits dry prairies in the south-central portion of its namesake state. [Read more about the sparrow in BirdWatching, September/October 2020 issue.]
Much of this subspecies’ troubles can be traced to the conversion of its habitat for agricultural uses. Yet these
