Extinct Birds on Your Life List (1 Viewer)

[has530]

I am planning a trip to New Zealand and saddened seeing the number of endangered endemic birds as well as birds we have already lost which got me thinking...I very well may see some birds there that could go extinct in my lifetime. I am a fairly new and young birder but I was just wondering if anyone here has stories of birds they have seen that are now extinct. I do not but I unfortunately do not expect that to remain the case given the trajectory of the climate, habitat loss, and pollution among other problems (invasive predators 🐈).

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Slender-billed Curlew; I was keen to see all the birds in the European guide, and the news came in of people going to Morocco to see the last remaining few. By the time I went, there were just 2 at Merja Zerga. I suppose I originally expected more to be found somewhere, but no.

 

[DMW]

I've seen 3 species that are most likely extinct (Slender-billed Curlew, Cebu Flowerpecker and Jerdon's Courser). Not much of a story really - just species that were on their last legs but still "gettable" when I went to look for them.

One of the more poignant memories is seeing the last few wintering Siberian Cranes from the central population at Bharatpur. I've been back to Bharatpur a couple of times since they died-out, but it's just a shadow of what it once was.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I've seen Stresemann's Bristlefront in Brazil, which is a bird that is potentially already extinct but, if not, is likely to become so. It's not been seen for (I think) about five years. It's reappeared before, but I suspect that's becoming less and less likely to happen. I think about it a lot.

 

[James Lowther]

I’ve not seen any personally, Chilean woodstar (seen just last year) would strike me as the highest risk of extinction amongst those species I have seen due to its tiny and rapidly decreasing range.
Just a comment to say that although the NZ avifauna has gone through a major decimation in the relatively recent past I wouldn’t really rank any current NZ species as at major risk of imminent extinction. I don’t believe any are classed as critically endangered for example?
Cheers
James

 

[hookem2010]

None so far, although I've only been birding since 2016. I have missed out on some species due to extinctions or population crashes.
I only spent a couple hours in the remaining habitat for Kauai forest birds in 2018, but just saw apapane and elepaio, about the only native species not at imminent risk of extinction. I've seen the Attwater's subspecies of greater prairie chicken at the NWR outside of Houston, but I dont believe that population is self-sustained, even if it's for some reason "countable". Whooping cranes are doing ok now, but I could imagine climate change really messing with their wintering grounds here on the Texas coast.

 

[Nightjar61]

Not extinct yet, but I’ve seen the Iquitos Gnatcatcher and it’s a bird that could become extinct in my lifetime. It has a range of about eight square miles and recent surveys have only been able locate about 15 pairs.

Dave

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

I've seen a few that are highly endangered, but so far none that have gone extinct...yet.

 

[TicoTyler]

The only one on my list so far that comes to mind that currently is Critically Endangered is the Apolinar's Wren.

 

[raymie]

The only one on my list so far that comes to mind that currently is Critically Endangered is the Apolinar's Wren.

Apolinar's Wren is only listed as Endangered. Great Green Macaw is Critically Endangered though, and I would assume you've seen that? Yellow-naped Amazon, too.

 

[THE_FERN]

Those I've seen that are perhaps most likely to become extinct: orange-bellied parakeet, african penguin, royal cinclodes, black stilt. Marvellous spatuletail is only "endangered" but I think this has declined in distribution quite a bit recently.

 

[DMW]

Those I've seen that are perhaps most likely to become extinct: orange-bellied parakeet, african penguin, royal cinclodes, black stilt. Marvellous spatuletail is only "endangered" but I think this has declined in distribution quite a bit recently.

Orange-bellied Parrot seems to have turned a corner in the last few years and is actually doing remarkably well relative to the low point a few years ago.

 

[TicoTyler]

Apolinar's Wren is only listed as Endangered. Great Green Macaw is Critically Endangered though, and I would assume you've seen that? Yellow-naped Amazon, too.

The problem with posting when you've first woken up. I thought Great Green was critically endangered but then when I double checked (since their population has been increasing) the AI automatic search results said it had been upgraded to just endangered. I should have just opened BOW instead. And just bad memory recall on the wren.

Yellow-naped Amazon I only kind of count given the taxonomic fuzziness of if it's actually a species.

 

[THE_FERN]

Orange-bellied Parrot seems to have turned a corner in the last few years and is actually doing remarkably well relative to the low point a few years ago.

Good news. (Copilot says 50-100 in the wild. It doesn't give a source. Somewhere between 50% to same number as when I saw it in 1988)

 

[THE_FERN]

Copilot says 500-1000 for spatuletail and decreasing...

 

[DMW]

Good news. (Copilot says 50-100 in the wild. It doesn't give a source. Somewhere between 50% to same number as when I saw it in 1988)

I believe it's over 200 individuals now, 2024 saw the best breeding season in decades.

 

[Jacana]

Spatuletail isn't even listed as Endangered any longer (Near Threatened) and the declines are minimal, and are not based on any strong evidence. I don't see it appearing on a list of extinct species any time soon.

Marvelous Spatuletail Loddigesia Mirabilis Species | BirdLife DataZone

People are destroying and consuming nature at a devastating rate. Birds are our early warning system. BirdLife International is the largest international Partnership for nature conservation.

datazone.birdlife.org

 

[Jacana]

I've not seen any extinct species yet and, taking a quick look at my list, I don't think I have any that are likely to go extinct in the next 20 years.

Baer's Pochard
Bengal Florican
Social Lapwing
African Penguin
Waved Albatross
Balearic Shearwater
White-headed Vulture
Hooded Vulture
White-backed Vulture
Rüppell's Vulture
Gurney's Pitta

Of these, I could potentially foresee African Penguin becoming extinct in the wild in my lifetime, though surely they must be ripe for a captive breeding project. Of the others, Bengal Florican must be highest on the 'at risk' list, and who knows what's going on with Gurney's now in Myanmar. They're certainly gone from Thailand.

Other than that, the most likely one to go is Balearic when it get's relumped with Yelkouan

 

[raymie]

Don't trust an AI to tell you how a bird is doing. ESPECIALLY when it doesn't give you a source.

 

[lammergeier05]

Here are my critically endangered species, primarily from Colombia, Brazil, Hawaii and Kenya

Brazilian Merganser
Hooded Grebe
Grenada Dove
African Penguin
Newell’s Shearwater
Black Stilt (recovering well)
Spoon-billed Sandpiper
White-headed Vulture
Hooded Vulture
White-backed Vulture
Ruppell’s Vulture
Ridgway’s Hawk
Great Green Macaw
Yellow-naped Amazon
Marsh Antwren
Orange-bellied Antwren
Urrao Antpitta
Araripe Manakin
Chestnut-capped Piha
Banded Cotinga
Alagoas Tyrannulet
Taita Apalis
Straw-headed Bulbul
Palila
Akekee
Antiochia Brushfinch