Bird extinction

Bird extinction is when every single member of a bird species disappears forever. Out of all the bird species we know about—around 11,154—159 have already gone extinct, and 226 are in big trouble, called critically endangered. This means there are very few left, and they might disappear soon, too.

Scientists who study birds believe that if people keep doing things that harm the environment, like cutting down forests or polluting water, one-third of all bird species could vanish by the year 2100. For the birds that are critically endangered, they might disappear in just a few decades unless we work hard to protect them.

Learning about bird extinction helps us understand how important it is to take care of our planet and all the living things, including birds, that call it home.

Causes

Birds go extinct for many reasons, but three big ones are losing where they live, being taken for other uses, and facing new animals that are harmful to them. Losing homes is a big problem, especially for birds that live on islands. When forests are cut down or split apart, birds can't find enough space or food, and this makes them weaker against other threats.

People also take birds for things like eggs, feathers, or meat, which can greatly reduce their numbers. Even today, some birds are hunted even though laws protect them. Also, new animals brought to places where they don’t belong can harm birds a lot. These animals, like rats or cats, attack birds that aren’t used to defending themselves, especially on islands. This has been a big problem for many bird species around the world.

Notable examples

Dodo

The dodo is one of the most famous extinct bird species. It was a large, flightless bird that lived only on the island of Mauritius. The dodo had plenty of food and no natural enemies, but when people arrived, they hunted the dodos for food. Other animals brought to the island also hurt the dodo population. Because of these changes, the dodo disappeared in the late 1600s.

Great auk

The great auk was a flightless bird that lived in the North Atlantic Ocean. People hunted great auks for their skins, eggs, and feathers, especially when they gathered to nest. The last great auk was seen in 1844, and it is believed to have gone extinct around that time.

Passenger pigeon

The passenger pigeon was once very common in North America, making up a large part of the bird population. But people cut down forests and hunted them in huge numbers. Even laws to protect them didn’t help, and their numbers kept falling. The last passenger pigeon, named Martha, died in 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo. Scientists have studied their genes to see if they can bring the species back one day.

Carolina parakeet

The Carolina parakeet lived in the eastern United States and was known for its bright colors. Farmers didn’t like them because they ate crops, and people also hunted them for their feathers. These factors caused their numbers to drop quickly. The last Carolina parakeet died in 1918 at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Tasmanian Emu

The Tasmanian emu was a smaller version of the emu that lived only on the island of Tasmania in Australia. It disappeared in the 1800s because of changes made by people and other factors that affected its survival.

By region

Australia

In June 2020, the Royal Society of South Australia shared a list of 95 ancient bird fossils. This list included three types of very large flamingos from the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre and Lake Frome areas in South Australia. These flamingos lived there for around 25 million years but disappeared about 140,000 years ago, probably because of drought. The list also mentioned huge penguins, about 2 metres tall, that lived between 60 million and 30 million years ago before they disappeared. Scientists like Trevor Worthy say we still have much to learn about how birds evolved in Australia, which is now home to about 1,000 different bird species.