Birdlife International's (2000)
Threatened Birds of the World
lists 1186 species as Endangered, Threatened, or Vulnerable. These include
several (like Guam Rail Gallirallus owstoni or Socorro Dove Zenaida
graysoni) that are "extinct in the wild" but captive breeding populations
exist and there is hope for eventual re-introductions into native habitat.
Although a few birds are included that are almost surely extinct (e.g.,
Javanese Lapwing Vanellus macropterus, Imperial Woodpecker Campephilus
imperialis, Ivory-billed Woodpecker C. principalis, Oahu 'Alauahio
Paroreomyza
maculata, Bachman's Warbler Vermivora bachmanii) this does mean
that over 10% of the birds in the world are threatened with extinction
in the near future, almost all of them due to the destruction of habitat
by man. Another 747 are more briefly summarized in an appendix as Near-Threatened;
yet 79 more are considered "data deficient" to permit evaluation. Together
this means that almost 1 out of every 5 species is slipping away from us.
From a world birder's perspective, these lists bring together most of the great and fabulous birds on earth. These birds are the stuff of dreams. I thought it might be fun to do a series of web pages on those that I've been fortunate enough to encounter. As the concept for this series did not occur to me until April 2001, some of the pages linked below were written more as short "trip reports" on various adventures. Others are summarizes of occurrence (usually in California) or even identification discussions.
For the most part these pages present my own photos and experiences with these wonderful birds. At present these are offered:
ENDANGERED & THREATENED BIRDS
Literature cited:
Birdlife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Barcelona & Cambridge, U.K., Lynx Edicions & Birdlife International.TOP
Page created 29 Apr 2001, updated 17 May 2002