What the changes in this year’s IUCN Red List tell us is that we can still turn things around for these species. There just has to be the will to act.
In this year’s updated IUCN Red List on birds, six species were down-listed from Critically Endangered to Endangered, but eight species were up-listed to Critically Endangered, leading to the highest number of Critically Endangered birds ever on the list. In all 1,227 bird species (12 percent) are currently considered threatened with global extinction.
“It extremely worrying that the number of Critically Endangered birds on the IUCN Red List continues to increase, despite successful conservation initiatives around the world,” says Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission.
Ethiopia’s Sidamo lark is Critically-Endangered. Photo by: Greg Davies.
The new additions to the Critically Endangered category come from all over the world. In Ethiopia the Sidamo Lark Heteromirafra sidamoensis has recently attracted media coverage due to a survey study which concluded that the lark may have the dubious honor of becoming mainland Africa’s first bird extinction.
“Across Africa, widespread birds of prey are also disappearing at an alarming rate, and emblematic species such as Bateleur Terathopius ecaudatus and Martial Eagle Polemaetus bellicosus have been placed in a higher category of threat as a result,” says Jez Bird, BirdLife’s Global Species Programme Officer. “These declines are mirrored in many species, in every continent.”
A newly discovered species from Colombia, the Gorgeted Puffleg Eriocnemis isabellae enters the Red List as Critically Endangered. This hummingbird lives in an increasingly shrinking cloud forest habitat of 1,200 hectares, which is being deforested for coca production.
New discovered Gorgeted Puffleg is already Critically Endangered. Photo by: Alex Cortes.
Hawaii’s Palila Loxioides bailleui jumps from Endangered to Critically Endangered. This species is the thirteenth Critically Endangered species in Hawaii. The American state is considered by some to have the most threatened species by area in the world.
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