10 bird species that need our help now
Stresemann’s Bristlefront
Where it lives: Brazil
Known population: 1
An elusive ground nester with a tuft of forehead feathers, the Stresemann’s Bristlefront dwells in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a biodiversity hotspot that has lost over 90 percent of its original habitat.
After going unseen for five decades, the bristlefront was rediscovered in 1995, though not until several years later did researchers pinpoint the site of a tiny population (of perhaps 10 or 15 birds). With help from American Bird Conservancy and other organizations, a Brazilian nonprofit protected that area in 2007, establishing the Mata do Passarinho (Songbird Forest) Reserve, which has since grown to 2,352 acres.
All seemed on the right track. But then a drought hit, drying up streams, and in 2016 an out-of-control fire set by a nearby landowner whipped through the reserve. The entire bristlefront population was feared wiped out — that is, until a lone female was observed singing just outside the reserve in 2018. (Presumably the same female, nicknamed “Hope,” was spotted again in 2019.)
Amy Upgren, an Alliance for Zero Extinction program officer at American Bird Conservancy, says she gets “this eerie feeling, like, ‘Am I hearing the last of its kind?’” when listening to a recording of Hope’s song.
Stresemann’s Bristlefronts are notoriously difficult to find, Upgren stresses, so she’s cautiously optimistic that a partner for Hope will turn up, either at the Songbird Forest Reserve or on one of the privately owned forest patches nearby. “We don’t believe in triage,” Upgren says. “We don’t believe in giving up on any bird species just because their numbers are low.”
Sadly, the Stresemann’s Bristlefront is not the only Atlantic Forest bird in serious trouble. The Cherry-throated Tanager, for example, is down to around 30 birds, whereas the Alagoas Curassow is extinct in the wild.
Where it lives: Brazil
Known population: 1
An elusive ground nester with a tuft of forehead feathers, the Stresemann’s Bristlefront dwells in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a biodiversity hotspot that has lost over 90 percent of its original habitat.
After going unseen for five decades, the bristlefront was rediscovered in 1995, though not until several years later did researchers pinpoint the site of a tiny population (of perhaps 10 or 15 birds). With help from American Bird Conservancy and other organizations, a Brazilian nonprofit protected that area in 2007, establishing the Mata do Passarinho (Songbird Forest) Reserve, which has since grown to 2,352 acres.
All seemed on the right track. But then a drought hit, drying up streams, and in 2016 an out-of-control fire set by a nearby landowner whipped through the reserve. The entire bristlefront population was feared wiped out — that is, until a lone female was observed singing just outside the reserve in 2018. (Presumably the same female, nicknamed “Hope,” was spotted again in 2019.)
Amy Upgren, an Alliance for Zero Extinction program officer at American Bird Conservancy, says she gets “this eerie feeling, like, ‘Am I hearing the last of its kind?’” when listening to a recording of Hope’s song.
Stresemann’s Bristlefronts are notoriously difficult to find, Upgren stresses, so she’s cautiously optimistic that a partner for Hope will turn up, either at the Songbird Forest Reserve or on one of the privately owned forest patches nearby. “We don’t believe in triage,” Upgren says. “We don’t believe in giving up on any bird species just because their numbers are low.”
Sadly, the Stresemann’s Bristlefront is not the only Atlantic Forest bird in serious trouble. The Cherry-throated Tanager, for example, is down to around 30 birds, whereas the Alagoas Curassow is extinct in the wild.
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21 February 2022
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