Habitat Loss- Wildlife Spieces Birds - Essay Example

An International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources report states that “the state of the world threatened bird species is worse than ever as since 1994 the number of bird species facing extinction has risen to 12% and 99% of these species is due to human activities”. Today there is an estimation of over 800 bird species under threat due to habitat loss. The National Audubon society reports Hawaii as the state with the largest number of endangered species over 70 Hawaiian species have gone extinct and 10 others have not been seen in years.

Since the time of European settlements more than 50% of wetlands in the US and Canada have been drained or filled to lend way for development. Expansion of agriculture has also caused deforestation and conversion of grasslands and drainage of wetlands in south and North America. Human caused pollution mostly due to terrestrial runoff e.g. the Gulf of Mexico contains over 4,144 km2 dead zone with little or no oxygen, caused due to excess fertilizers and other pollutants. The government laws and policies passed are also contributing to the problem.

In September 2005, the house passed HR3824, sponsored by Congressman Pombo. The bill called “threatened and endangered species recovery act,” eliminates protection for critical habitat. . It tops the list in America’s most endangered birds by the Audubon Society .The American birding society lists it in the class 6 species i.e. “definitely or probably extinct”. In fact it was considered extinct until one was sighted in Arkansas wildlife in 2004. It is the largest woodpecker species in the United States, the species ranged from Texas to North Carolina and southern Illinois to Cuba.

Its main habitats are mature old forest, cypress swamps and mature pine forests. Ivory billed wood peckers mate for life. One pair needs at least five to six square miles of open forest to mate mostly between January and may every year and they lay between two to five eggs. Due to heavy logging causing deforestation and drainage of cypress swamps, mating became rare and rare as the birds didn’t have the right atmosphere for mating. Efforts for its protection are vigorously being pursued like; investors investing and adopting potential breeding areas which are being properly maintained.

CARLIFORNIA CONDOR It is the largest northern American land bird; with the largest wingspan and the heaviest in weight. It is one of the world’s longest living birds with a lifespan of around 50 years. Its main habitats are rocky scrubland, coniferous forests and oak savannas. Their nesting sites are cliffs and large trees. Earlier they lived on mega fauna carcasses which unfortunately are now extinct in North America. They resulted to eating farm animals though none has ever been sited killing them, the farmers often hunted them down.

One of the major reasons that have led to the reduction of this bird population are: they have exacting mating habits, their sexually