Extinct and Endangered Birds

Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago

photographs by Marc Schlossman

Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)

On 14 September 1914, the last Passenger Pigeon died in a cage in

Cincinnati Zoo. It is the only species for which we know the exact date of
extinction. When Europeans settled in North America in the late 1500’s,
the E. migratorius population was as high as six billion in its forest
habitat in eastern North America, up to 40% of the total bird population
on the continent. Just a few decades of reckless overhunting and
deforestation in the late 1800’s brought the world’s largest ever bird
population to zero.

Flocks were so dense that the birds could simply be batted out of the air
with clubs as they flew over ridges; one shotgun blast could bring down
as many as 50 birds. A description from 1854: “There would be days and
days when the air was alive with them, hardly a break occurring in the
flocks for half a day at a time. Flocks stretched as far as a person could
see, one tier above another.” The naturalist John James Audubon
observed one flock for three days and estimated the birds were flying
past at a rate of 300 million per hour.

Professional hunters tracked the nomadic flocks and met the demand for
meat and feathers by suffocating birds nesting in trees with sulfurous
fires, knocking nests and squabs (young pigeons) from trees, baiting and
intoxicating them with alcohol-soaked grain to make them easier to
catch and by using live decoys with their eyes sewn shut. By 1880,
overkill had made commercial hunting unprofitable. In April 1896,
hunters found the last remnant flock of 250,000 and in one day killed all
but 5000 birds–other accounts say all were killed.

Despite commercial hunting, the Passenger Pigeon probably would not

have survived the progressive loss of the vast expanses of eastern
woodland habitat they needed to survive. Captive breeding efforts failed.
Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon, remains on display at the Smithsonian
Institute, Washington, DC.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis)

Thought extinct for more than 60 years, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker has
become the species most people associate with species extinction in the
Americas. Then in February 2004, a large woodpecker was seen by two
kayakers in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas and
based on the evidence, including a two-second video clip, many believe
C. principalis still exists. The sighting has stirred enough excitement to
launch searches for this “Lazarus species” in Arkansas, Florida and Texas,
coordinated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology and state wildlife agencies. There is even a $50,000 reward
for positive photographic evidence, offered by an anonymous donor.
Ivory-bill habitat (swampy bottomland hardwood forest) is rough terrain
for searchers. So far no indisputable evidence has emerged to confirm its
existence. Many experts think the 2004 sighting was of a Pileated
Woodpecker, a bird of very similar appearance and size.

The huge appetite for lumber to rebuild after the Civil War led to the
destruction of Ivory-bill habitat and its primary food source, beetle
larvae. Demand from collectors, including museum ornithologists,
increased as it became more rare, speeding its elimination. The Ivory-bill
was last seen in 1944. Once vast forests are today fragmented into much
smaller pockets of forest, virtual islands, surrounded by agricultural lands
and civilization. The possibility that one of the largest and most majestic
of woodpecker species still survives is inspirational to some but as with
many species whose habitat has been all but destroyed by human activity,
its population is unlikely to recover to any viable level, if it still exists at
all.

Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis bairdii)

Originally described as a sub-species by the ornithologist John Cassin in

1863, the Cuban species of Campehilus occurred only on the island. The
Cuban birds are smaller than the U.S. birds and have differences in the
plumage on the crest and neck. C. p. bairdii was shown to be a distinct
species in 2006 by researchers who extracted ancient DNA from tissue
samples from museum specimens at the Smithsonian National Museum
of Natural History. The two species diverged about one million years ago,
refuting the theory that Native Americans had imported the species to
Cuba.

Last seen in the 1980’s, it is thought to be extinct. The clearing of old-

growth forest for sugar plantations and lumber decimated its habitat and
primary food source, large beetle larvae. By the 1950’s, the bird was
confined to an isolated area of pine forest in eastern Cuba.

Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)

The Pileated is North America’s largest woodpecker, assuming the larger

Ivory-billed species are extinct. Like the three Ivory-billed species, the
Pileated Woodpecker suffered population decline due to the cutting and
fragmentation of old-growth forests in the first half of the 1900’s. They
require large dead trees for excavating their nest cavities and for insect
foraging. Fragmentation of once-extensive forests restricts the optimum
area necessary to support any given breeding pair and exposes them to
predation when flying between forested areas. No longer on the
endangered status, these magnificent birds were once hunted for food
and sport. More adaptable than the Ivory-bills, they thrive in any forest
type that has enough snags (dead trees). As a result, populations have
recovered well since the 1960’s in their range across Canada and the
eastern half and northwest coast of the United States.
Whooping Crane (Grus americana)

In 1941, hunting and habitat loss had brought the Whooping Crane
population down to just 15 individuals–a last remaining flock in Wood
Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Intensive
efforts to bring the tallest of North American birds back from extinction
have resulted in a rare and unusual success story.

A 1975 experiment to establish a second migratory wild flock transferred

eggs from Wood Buffalo to Sandhill Crane nests in Gray’s Lake National
Wildlife Refuge in Idaho. The Sandhill foster parents raised the chicks and
taught them to migrate to the flock’s wintering grounds in New Mexico.
However, the fostered Whooping Cranes formed pair bonds only with
Sandhills and the program ended in 1989.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s a joint U.S. and Canadian team worked to rear
non-migratory captive cranes and in 1993 released 33 birds in central
Florida. This population is doing well and increasing.

The latest effort to establish a migratory flock was started in 1999 by the
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), another joint U.S. and
Canadian group. Chicks are raised at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in
Wisconsin. Ultra-light aircraft engine noise is piped in to the nest from
egg stage so the birds will be conditioned to follow the aircraft along the
migration route of 1200 miles to Chassahowitzka and St. Mark’s NWR on
the gulf coast of Florida. Chicks in the nest are reared by costumed
handlers working in silence to ensure that chicks do not imprint on
humans.

Current population totals are nearly 400 in the wild and 150 in captivity.
Yet these numbers are still small enough to be vulnerable to a
catastrophic weather event that could devastate a flock during migration
or to disease.
Cinnamon Screech-Owl (Megascops petersoni)

The Cinnamon Screech-Owl was previously considered to be a sub-

species of the Cloud-forest Screech-Owl (Megascops marshalli).
(Screech-Owls of the Americas in the genus Otus have been reassigned to
Megascops.) It is found in tropical and subtropical montane regions of
Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. We consider our knowledge of birds to be
very good and tools to set conservation status like the IUCN Red List are
excellent. However, M. petersoni is a good example of the limitations of
both. Lack of knowledge of this species has lead to a risk classification no
higher than “least concern”. According to John Bates of the Field Museum
of Natural History in Chicago, this owl’s existence has only been known
since the early 1980’s and very little is known of the population density
and population trends within its range. In addition, not enough is known
about its biology and life history. Incomplete knowledge of such species
results in a classification that can only go so far in estimating the risk of
extinction. We do not know enough about M. petersoni to ensure its
long-term conservation.

New species are discovered as others become endangered or extinct and

not every one will be studied sufficiently to determine its Red List
classification. As stated on the IUCN website, the Red List system
categorizes species with a “high degree of consistency” but in certain
cases, “the risk of extinction may be under- or over-estimated.”
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)

The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal, diving at speeds of over 200
miles per hour. Its adaptability and vast breeding range make it the most
widespread raptor in the world. However, it was brought nearly to
extinction in the mid-1960’s, primarily by exposure to DDT and other
pesticides; the species became extinct in the eastern United States.

In use as a pesticide since 1939, DDT is stored in fatty tissues and is not
metabolized easily. DDT caused thinning of peregrine eggshells and a
resulting crash in hatch rates. Reintroduction programs became very
successful after DDT was banned in 1972 and the peregrine was removed
from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1999. As a cliff dweller, the
Peregrine has been very successfully reintroduced into cities, where it
nests on building ledges and other structures and hunts pigeons and
other birds.
Eggshells of Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), collected in 1899

The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal, diving at speeds of over 200
miles per hour. Its adaptability and vast breeding range make it the most
widespread raptor in the world. However, it was brought nearly to
extinction in the mid-1960’s, primarily by exposure to DDT and other
pesticides; the species became extinct in the eastern United States.

In use as a pesticide since 1939, DDT is stored in fatty tissues and is not
metabolized easily. DDT caused thinning of eggshells and a resulting
crash in hatch rates. Reintroduction programs became very successful as
DDT was banned in 1972 and the peregrine was removed from the U.S.
Endangered Species List in 1999. As a cliff dweller, the Peregrine has
been very successfully reintroduced into cities, where it nests on building
ledges and other structures and hunts pigeons and other birds.

Specimens in museum collections, such as these eggshells collected in

1899, provided a baseline shell thickness, evidence of the thinning of
eggshells caused by DDT.
Camiguin Hanging-Parrot (Loriculus camiguinensis)

First described in 2006 by Bird Division staff of the Field Museum Natural
History in Chicago (J. Tello, J. Degner, J. M. Bates, and D. E. Willard), the
Camiguin Hanging-Parrot, or Colasisi, occurs only in a specific area of
montane rain forest on Camiguin Island, a small island close to the
northern coast of central Mindanao in the Philippines. At the same time,
two news species of rodent from Camiguin were described by Field
Museum Curator of Mammals, Larry Heaney. Of the 7000 Philippine
islands, Camiguin is the smallest that supports an endemic bird or
mammal species. Camiguin was once entirely forested but as the
Philippines has become one of the most heavily deforested countries in
the world, less than 18% of the original rain forest remains. Logging and
deforestation for agriculture have effectively created islands of montane
rain forest within this small island, further restricting the habitat of this
parrot species, found only in a small area of forest in the eastern half of
the island. The discovery of L. camiguinensis and other endemic species
has fostered efforts to protect the remaining forest and declare it a
national park.

The description of L. camiguinensis was based on specimens collected by

Dioscoro S. Rabor (a Filipino biologist trained in the United States) that
have been in museum collections for four decades, emphasizing the
latent value and real importance of collecting and preserving specimens
for scientific study. "Very few states in the United States, and few
countries in Europe, have four endemic species of vertebrates, making it
clear why tiny Camiguin Island is deserving of international attention,"
Heaney said. "And it is almost certain that other organisms on Camiguin
are also endemic; they just have not been studied yet."

Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhyncus hyacinthinus)

The Hyacinth Macaw is one of nearly 1500 bird species protected by the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES), an agreement between 173 governments. It is the
largest parrot, measuring up to one meter long. The species is
endangered and its population in steady decline primarily due to the pet
trade. The price of a captive bird is $9,000 to $12,000 US. It is thought
that 10,000 birds were illegally collected in the 1980’s. Less than 7,000
still exist in the wild. Three other related species of macaw are extinct or
believed to be extinct.

It lives in semi-open forested habitat primarily in the Pantanal of Brazil, a

floodplain wetland region, and central South America. In addition to
habitat loss due to agriculture and ranching, it has been hunted by native
peoples for food and headdress decoration. The Hyacinth Macaw Project
has been monitoring the A. hyacinthinus population and nesting sites in
the Pantanal for nearly 20 years, working closely with researchers and
local ranchers to ensure good management and increased awareness.
Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis)

The Carolina Parakeet was the only indigenous parrot in North America.
As its forest habitat was cleared in the 1800’s and crops planted in its
range in the eastern United States, the Carolina Parakeet began to feed
on cultivated fruit in addition to its staple diet of fruits and seeds of trees
and plants, especially cocklebur. Farmers exterminated the birds as
agricultural pests in fields and orchards. Their task was made easier by
the highly social parakeet’s flock behaviour of returning to where birds
had been killed or injured.

By the mid-1800’s the species was rare. The remaining population was
restricted to Florida; the last sightings were made in the early 1900’s.
Ironically, by then the remnant flocks in Florida were tolerated by farmers
and hunting for their colourful decorative feathers had stopped. It is
thought that disease and competition from honeybees for tree nesting
cavities were the final causes of extinction. The last Carolina Parakeets
died in 1918 in Cincinnati Zoo, in the same aviary where the last
Passenger Pigeon had died four years earlier.
Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis)

Once one of the most numerous of shorebirds, it has been over 40 years
since the last confirmed sighting of N. borealis. Like the Passenger
Pigeon, huge flocks once filled the skies along the migration route from
northern Alaska and the Northwest Territories to South America via the
prairies of Canada and the United States. Extensive market hunting in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries and the loss of prairies to agriculture
made the N. borealis population unviable. By the time of the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act of 1918, it was too late for the curlew population to
recover.

The demise of the Eskimo Curlew is closely linked to the extinction of

another species, the Rocky Mountain Locust (Melanoplus spretus). The
locust was a primary food source for the curlew during migration through
the prairies. An 1874 swarm was estimated to be nearly 200,000 square
miles–larger than California. Less than 30 years later, the locust was
extinct, possibly due to agriculture and crop planting. Without the threat
of seasonal locust damage, North American agriculture developed even
more aggressively in the late 1800’s, further sealing the fate of the
Eskimo Curlew.
Bachman’s Warbler (Vermivora bachmanii)

“Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)” is the designation for Bachman’s

Warbler on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red
List for Threatened Species. In fact, there is very little remaining habitat
to search and any remaining population that has managed to survive
would be very small. The last confirmed sightings occurred in 1961 and
1988. In 2002, video footage that may show a female was shot in Cuba.
V. bachmanii declined due to loss of its southern United States breeding
grounds in bottomland forest through deforestation, drainage and stream
channelization. The birds wintered primarily in Cuba, where habitat loss
was especially severe. In addition, any small remnant population
wintering in Cuba would be very vulnerable to the potentially catastrophic
effects of hurricanes.
Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus)

Blackbird species in North America have adapted well and generally

thrived in the last 150 years, despite human activity. Yet Rusty Blackbirds
have experienced one of the steepest declines of any species in the last
40 years and with little research available, it is difficult to determine why
the population has crashed by an estimated 85-99 percent. Research to
aid conservation is even more difficult when a species becomes rare.

The Rusty Blackbird breeds in boreal forest wetlands across Canada and
Alaska and winters in similar habitat in the eastern half of the United
States. Habitat loss through conversion of wetlands to agriculture is the
most likely cause of the decline. In fact, bird species linked to wetlands
have faced the worst long-term declines of any North American birds.
Wetlands are particularly sensitive to the increased temperatures of
global warming, causing water loss, changes in chemical balance and
changes in the makeup of plant and animal communities. The demise of
E. carolinus may be a strong indication of the threats to the wetland
ecosystem.
Dusky Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens) (top)
Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis)

Declared extinct in 1990, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow was one of 11

Ammodramus subspecies that inhabit coastal marshlands on the Atlantic
seaboard of the United States. A. m. nigrescens was non-migratory and
lived only in the marshes of the St. John’s River and Merritt Island on
Florida’s mid-Atlantic coast. A 70 percent decline in population was
recorded following the use from 1942 to 1953 of DDT to control
mosquitos on Merritt Island. In further efforts to eliminate mosquitos in
1956 in the Kennedy Space Centre region, Merritt Island nesting grounds
were flooded to make mosquito control impoundments, causing another
drop in numbers. Then marshes along the St. John’s River were drained to
aid highway construction, putting yet more pressure on the population.

By 1980, six remaining individuals, all males, had been captured to

establish a captive breeding program that was eventually unsuccessful
because no females were ever found. They lived out their lives in a Walt
Disney World nature reserve called Discovery Island. The last male died in
June 1987.
California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus)

The California Condor’s range once extended over most of North

America. It is the continent’s largest bird with a wingspan of nearly 10
feet. It can fly at altitudes up to 15,000 feet. By the time of westward
expansion, the condor’s range was reduced to the mountains of the
Pacific Coast. Shooting and poisoning by humans decreased its numbers
to 600 by 1890. In 1982, there were just 22 condors left in the wild.

Initiated in 1975, the California Condor Recovery Program is a

cooperative effort by federal, state and private agencies in the western
United States. Controversial debate over how to best manage the condor
resulted in all 22 remaining birds being captured by 1987 to start a
captive breeding program. Double clutching was used, a technique in
which a condor’s single egg is removed to encourage the laying of
another egg in that year. Chicks from the incubated eggs must be
handled and raised using condor puppets so the chicks do not imprint on
humans.

As carrion feeders, condors are extremely vulnerable to lead poisoning

when they ingest lead shot. Lead poisoning is the leading cause of death
among condors. Hunters must now use non-lead ammunition in condor
recovery areas.

In 1992, the first condors were released in the wild and the first wild
condor chick hatched in 2002. Condors have been re-introduced in
various locations in Arizona, California and Baja California, Mexico. There
are now over 300 condors and approximately half of them live in the
wild.