9,777 Birds?

It doesn’t really ring in the ears, does it?  Conservation International has just released a study that predicts the loss of hundreds of animal species around the globe.  The report identifies 223 bird species, along with 140 mammal and 346 amphibian species, as being endangered and completely without any kind of human protection.  The report is serious enough to have appeared in some mainstream media last Thursday.  Follow this link for the Yahoo! article.

BirdLife International highlighted some of the endangered and unprotected avians in an article posted on their website.  The Yellow-eared Parrot currently numbers around 150 individuals in the Columbian Andes, yet it lives completely outside of any protected areas.

As my birding days have really just begun and I am a man who relishes not the frantic chase, but the relaxing stroll, I fear I (and many others) will never see some of these magnificent species outside the glare of a computer/TV screen or the fading pages of an old book.  I believe that it is probably already too late for many birds already on the endangered species lists, but it is not too late for those who have yet to dwindle so far.  It will not take the Herculean effort of a few, but the everyday effort of the many to save them.  Pay attention to what you buy and for whom you vote.