One In Eight Bird Species Facing Possible Extinction - Guardian

[hatrack]

"More than 1,000 bird species face extinction because of an alarming and accelerating loss of biodiversity, a study warns today.
Environmental degradation could wipe out 1,211 species, an eighth of the world's total, according to the report by BirdLife International, an umbrella conservation body. Expanded farming and forestry, and the introduction of alien species are cited as threats to African species. Glimmers of good news, such as the rediscovery on a Japanese island of the short-tailed albatross thought to be extinct, fail to lift the gloom from the report, State of the World's Birds 2004.

Collating in one document for the first time all existing research about the status and distribution of the world's birds, it said 129 species had been classified extinct in the past 500 years.

"The state of the world's birds presents firm evidence that we are losing birds and other biodiversity at an alarming and ever increasing rate," said Michael Rands, director of BirdLife. Half of Africa's important bird areas are under threat, mostly from farmers and loggers, stripping habitats of species such as the Anjouan Scops-owl and Otus capnodes."

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,13262,1164438,00.html

[blindpig]

1. So? We'll still have pigeons &starlings to keep the rats company.

If this comes to pass we will not be forgiven. I am ashamed of my species.