Environment

3 species of birds are close to extinction

by Amy Judd | May 16, 2009 at 12:48 pm

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Three species of birds are close to extinction now due to loss of habitat and deforestation. The Ethiopian Lark, the Galapagos Finch and a certain species of hummingbird from Colombia have all been added to the list of the world's most threatened species.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature have added all the birds to the list, but the Sidamo Lark could become the first African bird to be made extinct due to loss of their home.

"This is a species that is absolutely on the edge," said Martin Fowlie, spokesman for the Britain-based BirdLife International, whose monitoring determines which birds are included on the list.

All of the birds are exotic and were once thriving on the earth, but have since struggled to survive.
In Colombia the hummingbird is losing habitat to cocaine production, and only about 25 of them have been seen recently.

Some birds, such as the Chatham petrel from New Zealand, have been able to bounce back from the brink of extinction, so there are some success stories, but not as many as conservationists would like.