Surfbirds News: BirdLife International Archives
Cambridge, UK, 1 June 2005 - BirdLife International's annual evaluation of how the world's bird species are faring shows that the total number considered to be threatened with extinction is now 1,212, which when combined with the number of near threatened species gives a total of exactly 2,000 species in trouble - more than a fifth of the planet's remaining 9,775 species.
"Despite the recent rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, overall more species are currently sliding towards oblivion. One in five bird species on the planet now faces a risk in the short or medium-term of joining the Dodo, Great Auk and 129 other species that we know have become extinct since 1500," said BirdLife's Communication Officer, Ed Parnell.
Of the species currently in trouble, 179 are now categorised as Critically Endangered, the highest level of threat. These include the Azores Bullfinch (Pyrrhula murina), one of Europe's rarest songbirds, which has been in decline since the early 1990s, with fewer than 300 individuals left. However, the entire home-range of the species has recently been declared a Special Protection Area (SPA) by the Portuguese Government, affording it some much-needed protection under European Union legislation.
Azores Bullfinch, Portugal, Sao Miguel 14 Oct 2002 ???? Leo Boon from the Surfbirds Galleries
(more pictures at: www.cursorius.com)
Several species from Europe appear in the list for the first time, like European Roller (Coracias garrulus), for which key populations in Turkey and European Russia have declined markedly; Kr??¼per's Nuthatch (Sitta krueperi), a mainly Turkish species that has declined because of tourism development of its key habitats; and Red Kite (Milvus milvus), which has suffered large declines across Europe, despite a highly successful reintroduction programme in the UK. All three move from the Least Concern category to Near Threatened. |
