GOING SOUTH
W
e are all familiar with the cautionary
tale of the Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes
migratorius — once the most abundant species
in North America, and possibly the entire world.
Numbering well into the billions at the peak of
its existence, flocks of Passenger Pigeons flying
overhead were likened to deafening hurricanes.
It seemed unthinkable that this superabundant
bird could go extinct. Yet, it did. Unchecked
hunting and the widespread clearance of hard-
wood trees, which provided the bulk of its diet,
drove a steep decline in numbers in the late 19 th
Century. By the time we realised what was hap-
pening, it was too late to reverse the decline,
and Martha, the last known Passenger Pigeon,
died in captivity in 1914. This sorry tale serves to
remind us that although many birds are classi-
fied as Least Concern by BirdLife on behalf of the
IUCN Red List, if we ignore the warning signs, no
species is immune from the threat of extinction.
BREAK OUT
THE BUNTINGS
Widescale, unchecked hunting has, in the space of just three decades, driven frightening
declines in two widespread bunting species, on both sides of the Eurasian landmass.
Armed with our scientific findings, the BirdLife Partnership is now working to help buntings recover
Simba Chan
34
BIRDLIFE • SEPTEMBER 2017
In the mid-1990s, the observed decline of the
Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola in
Hokkaido, Japan alerted conservationists that
another super-abundant species might be in
trouble. Now we know it has suffered a huge
decline, possibly as much as 95 percent of its
population, in the span of just two to three dec-
ades. Prior to 200