Endangered Birds

Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Chester A. Reed


The last confirmed sightings, until February of 2004, were in 1972 in East Texas and Lousiana and in Cuba in 1986. Deforestation caused its decline as each pair required at least ten square miles of low-land hardwood forests. The State of Louisiana ordered a halt to logging while it checked out a reported sighting in 2000.

Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Robert Ridgway

Congress prohibited killing the American Eagle in 1940. In 1963, 417 nesting Bald Eagle pairs were counted in the lower 48 States. They were listed as endangered south of the 40th parallel in 1967 and in 43 States in 1973. In 1999, it was estimated almost 6,000 pairs were nesting in the lower 48 States and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to delist the Bald Eagle.

California Condor Gymnogyps californianus
W.L.Finley & H.T.Bohlman

California Condors were listed as endangered in 1967. By 1982, there were less than two dozen in the wild. Mating Condor pairs produce only one egg every two years. Rescued from the brink of extinction by an intense captive breeding program, as of October 1, 2003 there was a total wild population of 83 and 137 in captivity. With a wingspan of over 9 feet, California Condors can soar more than 100 miles per day on updrafts searching for food. They have a life span of up to 60 years.

Attwater's Greater Prairie Chicken

The Greater Prairie Chicken was designated endangered in Texas in 1967. Nests in slight, grass lined hollows in the soil sheltered by grass tufts in open coastal grasslands, which have been reduced through cultivation and grazing. Populations have declined to less than 100, which sounds strikingly like the story of their extinct cousin, the Heath Hen. Eats grass and flower seeds. Their dancing mating spectacles are popular among birder and even inspired traditional Native American ritual dances. Preyed upon by hawks and owls, even cats and dogs.



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