The sky is like a scene from a painting – the blue is splattered with blotches of white, and the sun’s rays pour like liquid gold onto the ground. A loud chirping sound announces the arrival of a small, black-and-white speckled bird, with a spray of yellow across its back. The sight is not one that many people take the time to marvel at, and this ignorance often leads to humans destroying the homes of many animals. Because of habitat destruction, a lot of different species have died out, but luckily, many animals have made amazing comebacks after being at the gate of extinction.
There are so many different types of birds, yet a lot of them have, unfortunately, become nearly extinct, or even just been completely wiped out. However, some of those birds have been able to stay alive and grow in number once again, due to the efforts that people put into saving these wonderful animals. Among the ones that managed to make a comeback after reaching the brink of extinction are:
Bald Eagle: The population of the national bird of the United States was reduced from around 100,000 nesting eagles to just 417 breeding pairs in the 1960s. This was due to DDT, a pesticide that prevented the adult female birds from laying healthy eggs. Because of the huge drop in number, the eagle was placed on the endangered species list. However, after many conservation efforts, the population increased once again, and there are now about 10,000 breeding pairs in the U.S.
Kirtland’s Warbler: These little warblers already had it hard, as they can only breed in nests with sandy soil in 5-20 year old jack pine trees. Fires led to loss of habitat for the birds, and nest parasites killed many of them as well. In the 1970s, there were only 210 pairs of them left, but many people worked really hard to save them, and by 2001, the number grew to 1,000 pairs.
Regent Honeyeater: These beautiful Australian birds were bred in captivity and then released into the wild, and, fortunately, they were able to stay alive and adapt to the environment. The current population still isn’t that high, but they are certainly making a significant comeback.
Whooping Crane: Although their progress has been a bit slow, the cranes, whose population drastically went down from around 1500 birds to just 50, are now being reintroduced to a comfortable environment for the winter, which in their case is Florida. The whooping cranes were located in the U.S. and Western Canada, and even though they had a huge decrease in number, conservation efforts have allowed them to grow from 50 birds to almost 500.
California Condor: These condors nearly became extinct in 1982, when there were only 23 of them left. Thankfully, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service quickly put the remaining birds into breeding programs in California, Idaho, and Oregon, and there are now over 400 condors. However, they will stay on the endangered species list until the population reaches 450.
There are many more animals out there that are nearing extinction due to human activity, and it’s therefore common sense that humans should do what they can to help. The first step is to get educated, and then people need to spread the word. Each and every single creature was created for a reason, and the world has to be sure that they don’t die out, especially because of humans.
