10 Extinct or endangered bird species

The reasons that lead birds to extinction are many: climate change, new diseases, deforestation or cruel and unrestrained hunting. When researchers realize that a species is in serious danger of dying out, they try to put as many specimens as possible in captivity so that professional ornithologists can try to reproduce them, thus preventing their total disappearance. Another strategy that has been used to try to reduce this problem is cloning, but its complete efficiency is not yet known, since the environment where the species grows is not the same as the natural one.

Today the awesome.club brings some examples of birds already extinct or in danger of extinctionsome of them native here in Brazil🇧🇷

This bird from the Paraná River basin measures about 70 centimeters. The body is blue and the head is grayish blue. Around the eyes and on the mandible, the skin has a yellow color that contrasts with the feathers. The bird belongs to the macaw family and also has a long tail and a strong beak. The last research by ornithologists was carried out in the 1990s and no population of the species was found, although there are rumors that some specimens remain in the forests of western Paraguay. The extinction was mainly due to the destruction of the palm Butia yataywhose fruits were the food base of the species.

This macaw belongs to the same family. Its color is blue, lighter on the head and darker on the ends of the wings. The beak, paws and eyes are grayish when young and black when adults. They come from the interior of the northeast and, according to research, there are still some released in the wild in the states of Pernambuco and Piauí. The curious detail is that it was precisely this species that inspired the animation Rio and its sequel, Rio 2.

The caburé-de-pernambuco is a species of owl that lives in the region of Pernambuco. It is a species that is in serious danger of extinction — less than 50 adult birds remain in the Saltinho Biological Reserve. Its feathers have different shades of brown. On the face, head and neck it is possible to notice the presence of white spots. The decline is said to be related to the loss of the natural habitat where they used to live.

Acrocephalus longirostris is a medium-sized bird, dark above and yellow below. It originates from the island of Moorea in French Polynesia. Recent expeditions have not found any specimens, which suggests that unfortunately the animal is extinct.

This bird is known as the San Cristóbal flycatcher because it was originally from San Cristóbal Island in the Galapagos. It is about 11 centimeters long, brown on top and has a reddish tinge on the underside, throat, chest and crown (in males). After several surveys by ornithologists, in June 2016 the bird was considered the first extinct in the Galápagos. Its extinction is related to diseases such as smallpox and avian malaria, in addition to the disappearance of insects on which the species fed.

This endemic Hawaiian bird has been extinct since 2004, the year researchers attempted captive breeding. This was not possible because they did not find a female before the male died of avian malaria. She is a small bird and is usually brown with shades of black on her head. Its name means just that: black head. She ate snails, spiders and other insects.

The imperial woodpecker currently lives in the cold forests of Mexico and is considered an endangered species. It is the largest type of woodpecker in the world and its size varies from 50 to 60 centimeters. Its colors are white and black; males have a red plume on the head, in females the plume is white. They feed on worms and larvae, live in pine forests and what threatens them is precisely hunting.

This bird, also known as the Eurasian Woodpecker, has been considered extinct since 2005, the year some ornithologists found a male of this species at the White River Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, USA. After this discovery, the species was considered endangered. It measures from 48 to 53 centimeters and weighs about 500 grams. Eats beetle larvae, seeds and insects. It is said that couples stay together for life and usually have puppies between the months of January and May.

This species inhabited the forests of Ile de Sainte-Marie, in Madagascar, and has been considered extinct since approximately 1870. She was a large bird that could barely fly. It moved along the ground in small leaps and its food was based almost essentially on snails. It is not known exactly what led them to extinction, but most likely this was due to a process of deforestation on the island and the emergence of rats that fed on these birds.

The passenger pigeon was one of the most numerous species in North America and is now extinct. Its appearance was very similar to that of the doves we see today, but with different colors. They had a bluish head and back, a reddish chest and a white belly. The tips of the wings and the tail were black. In addition to the deforestation of the natural habitat, hunting was responsible for its extinction. Meat, fat and feathers were used both by humans and to feed domestic animals.

Did you know these species? If you know others, share them in the comments.