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Rare Birds Year Book 2008

If this book weren't so depressing, it would be one of the best books of the year.

A guide to 189 critically endangered birds of the world. And these birds are seriously endangered; many with a population of less than 50 birds, and almost all have a population of less than 1000.

Each of the 189 birds has details of history, population size, range, threats and conservation actions. There is also at least one picture, mostly photos but for obvious reasons a few drawings too, and a distribution map too.

The book also lists those birds officially declared extinct (Names and dates), extinct in the wild, and also 41 birds that, although not officially extinct, have not been recorded for anything between 3 and 184 years. There are also details of several birds previously thought extinct, but that have since been rediscovered.

Many of these birds have only recently been discovered, and it is a sobering thought that there are undoubtedly many more that have recently become extinct before they were ever known.
Raso Lark. Copyright Edwin Winkel.

Case Study - The Raso Lark - Just 130 Alive
The Raso Lark was first described in 1898. The bird only lives on one small tiny, 7km square island in the Cape Verdes. Since its discovery the population has fluctuated between 50-250. It is highly specialised as it lives on level plains of volcanic soil, and is highly susceptible to drought, though it recovers quickly after good rains.

Threats & Conservation
As a ground nesting bird, it is susceptible to rats and cats, though it is thought that the island is currently clear of these predators. The bird is officially protected and Raso Island has been declared a national park, though there appears to be little enforcement of these rules.

Officially Extinct
Since records began, 154 species of bird have been officially declared extinct, starting with 6 birds that were all endemic to Santa Helena that disappeared almost as soon as they were first found in 1502. Birds endemic to small islands feature very heavily in the list, with Hawaii, Reunion, Mauritius, Guadeloupe, Wake Island, Chatham Island and Jamaica all featuring heavily, and the birds of New Zealand, especially the flightless ones, featuring heavily in the extinct and critically endangered sections.

Extinct in all but name
There is also a list of 41 birds that have not been officially declared extinct, but have not been seen for anything between 2 and 180 years. The Cozumel Thrasher, restricted to just one small island off Mexico devaststed by a series of hurricanes, has not been seen since 2004, though there was an unofficial sighting in 2006. However the Hooded Seedeater has not been seen since 1823 in an obscure area of Brazil, and even then it was only known from a single specimen.

See the full list below.

Back from the Dead
Several birds that had been believed extinct have been rediscovered in the last 20 years.  Jerdon’s Courser was rediscovered in 1986 in scrubland in India, but the most recent Lazarus bird is the Madagascar pochard. The Madagascar pochard was thought extinct in 1991, but in 2006 a small flock was found with chicks on a remote lake in Madagascar.

Click to read more about the story of the Jerdon’s Courser and the Madagascar pochard.

Last Record
A NUMBER OF THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SPECIES in this book have not been recorded reliably for many years but are still not treated as Extinct on the Red List ; Archer's Lark occurs in Somalia, in areas where large numbers of refugees have settled owing to unrest in that country. No ornithologists have surveyed the area in recent times, so it could still be extant there. Hooded Seedeater is known from only a single specimen trapped in Brazil, in an area which is poorly known to ornithologists.

The individual could have been on migration and have a very small total population, contributing to the difficulty of rediscovering it. Guadalupe Storm-petrel is difficult to distinguish from Leach's Storm-petrel which also breeds on Guadalupe Island. It is nocturnal at the breeding sites which makes locating the species without intensive surveys difficult.