10 bird species that need our help now

By Jesse Greenspan

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.

Florida Grasshopper Sparrow
Florida Grasshopper Sparrow
Where it lives: Florida

Estimated population: 100 (plus some captive-bred birds)

At the moment, the mainland 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.

Much of this subspecies’ troubles can be traced to the conversion of its habitat for agricultural uses. Yet these skulkers are also suffering in protected areas, even where wildlife managers have fenced in nests, done battle with invasive fire ants (which swarm and devour sparrow chicks), and maintained the prairie with prescribed burns and tree removal.

As recently as 20 years ago, roughly 1,000 Florida Grasshopper Sparrows endured, mostly on three large reserves, and their precipitous decline since then has baffled conservationists. “We have searched for disease but not found a clear smoking gun,” says Paul Gray, Audubon Florida’s Everglades science coordinator.