10 bird species that need our help now
Liben Lark
Where it lives: Ethiopia
Estimated population: 50-250
In contrast to the other five inhabited continents, mainland Africa has never recorded a modern bird extinction. Unfortunately, the Liben Lark, a shy, nondescript ground nester, threatens to be the first.
Ample swaths of prairie where this bird lives have been lost outright to cropland and scrub encroachment, while overgrazing has severely degraded the rest. Without much waist-high grass to hide in anymore, nesting females in particular are vulnerable to predators.
A Somali population is presumed extirpated, and the bird appears to have sharply declined at its two remaining locations: the Liben Plain in southern Ethiopia and the Jijiga Plain in the country’s east.
To stem the tide, conservation groups set up community-managed nature reserves, known as kallos, with help from a U.K.-government grant. “During the wet season, grass inside the kallos grows to suitable heights and structure for breeding of the Liben Lark,” says Kariuki Ndang’ang’a, head of conservation at BirdLife Africa. “At the same time, the grass forms good forage for cattle — this is harvested during the dry season, when the larks aren’t breeding.”
The larks seemed to like the kallos, which totaled about 865 acres, and so, too, did local pastoralists. The kallos even purportedly saved human lives during a drought, when livestock fodder was otherwise scarce.
Since 2019, however, they have “faced major disrepair,” Ndang’ang’a explains. Extended drought and local conflicts took their toll just as international funding was drying up. Tens of thousands of dollars are needed annually to keep the kallos going, Ndang’ang’a says, and broader measures to sustainably manage the grasslands would be even costlier.
Where it lives: Ethiopia
Estimated population: 50-250
In contrast to the other five inhabited continents, mainland Africa has never recorded a modern bird extinction. Unfortunately, the Liben Lark, a shy, nondescript ground nester, threatens to be the first.
Ample swaths of prairie where this bird lives have been lost outright to cropland and scrub encroachment, while overgrazing has severely degraded the rest. Without much waist-high grass to hide in anymore, nesting females in particular are vulnerable to predators.
A Somali population is presumed extirpated, and the bird appears to have sharply declined at its two remaining locations: the Liben Plain in southern Ethiopia and the Jijiga Plain in the country’s east.
To stem the tide, conservation groups set up community-managed nature reserves, known as kallos, with help from a U.K.-government grant. “During the wet season, grass inside the kallos grows to suitable heights and structure for breeding of the Liben Lark,” says Kariuki Ndang’ang’a, head of conservation at BirdLife Africa. “At the same time, the grass forms good forage for cattle — this is harvested during the dry season, when the larks aren’t breeding.”
The larks seemed to like the kallos, which totaled about 865 acres, and so, too, did local pastoralists. The kallos even purportedly saved human lives during a drought, when livestock fodder was otherwise scarce.
Since 2019, however, they have “faced major disrepair,” Ndang’ang’a explains. Extended drought and local conflicts took their toll just as international funding was drying up. Tens of thousands of dollars are needed annually to keep the kallos going, Ndang’ang’a says, and broader measures to sustainably manage the grasslands would be even costlier.
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21 February 2022
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