That Bird Blog – Bird Care and History for Pet Birds

In times of economic distress, government-funded wildlife conservation often takes a back seat to competing concerns.  InAustralia, private (non-governmental) groups are taking up some of the slack…and doing a fine job.  Over 6,000,000 acres of land are now being privately managed for the benefit of native animals and plants.

Wildlife in Peril

Parrot conservation often takes center stage when talk turns to Australian wildlife, but a wide variety of other animals are also in trouble.  A recent report (please see below) states that 27 species of Australian birds are now extinct, 20 are critically endangered, 68 are vulnerable and 63 are classified as near-threatened. Australia leads the world mammal extinctions, and severe declines have also been noted among reptiles, amphibians and fishes. Read More »

The recently published Action Plan for Australian Birds, 2010 covering all Australian birds on the IUCN Red Data List, has its share of depressing conservation news, but also offers some hope.  As most bird enthusiasts know, a few species of Australian cockatoos are expanding their ranges, but far more are declining or barely holding their own.  Less well-known is the fact that several finches are also in serious trouble in the wild, despite being well-established in the pet trade.

Past and Present Statistics

Since European settlers arrived onAustraliain 1788, 2.2% of the continent’s birds have become extinct and 11.8% are threatened with extinction.  As so many of Australia’s birds are found nowhere else on earth and have no close relatives, the situation is especially critical.  Read More »

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has taken action on a proposal originally filed by Friends of Animals in 2008.  Three of the affected species are popular in the pet trade – the Umbrella or White Cockatoo (Cacatua alba), the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (C. sulphurea) and the Red-Vented or Philippine Cockatoo (C. haematuropygia).  The Crimson Shining Parrot (Prosopeia splendens) was denied Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection.

ESA Protection Denied for 8 Parrot Species

The original application filed by Friends of Animals sought ESA protection for 8 additional species, including the Military, Scarlet, Blue-Headed, Great Green and Hyacinth Macaws, the Yellow-Billed and Red-Crowned Parrots and the Grey-Cheeked Parakeet.  Of these, only the 3 cockatoos listed above and the Crimson Shining Parrot were selected by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as warranting further consideration. Read More »

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently released the 2011 State of the Birds Report.  For the first time, the report focused on the role that publicly owned lands (i.e. federal parks) play in the natural history and conservation of native birds.  The report was spurred by the US North American Bird Conservation Initiative, and represents the efforts of numerous groups, including the National Audubon Society, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  Both “citizen scientists” (please see article below) and professional biologists played important role in data collection. Read More »

One of the USA’s most hotly-debated conservation questions seems finally to have been answered.  For years, ornithologists have considered the huge Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, to be extinct, but many well-respected biologists continued to report sightings.  Down to an estimated 30 birds by the 1930’s, none had been observed for decades despite intensive searches and rewards, including one of $50,000 posted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  Recent video and acoustic recordings (Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, please see below), however, seem to establish that this magnificent bird is still with us. Read More »