Like many migratory birds, the Slender-billed Curlew once bred in Siberia during the brief, but very productive, summer. When other birds flew south to the tropics or even Australia, this curlew species spent its winters around the Mediterranean. That might have seemed a safe choice given what is happening to tropical rainforests. In general, Mediterranean birds have been doing better, perhaps because they had more time to adjust to the growth of human civilization on its banks.
“This marks the first known extinction of a bird species from mainland Europe, North Africa and West Asia,” a statement from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) sent to IFLScience noted, while acknowledging two species have been lost from islands off Europe and Africa respectively. “Extensive efforts have been made for decades to find evidence of the Slender-billed Curlew across its breeding and non-breeding ranges, but all have proven unsuccessful.”
The last reliable sighting of the curlew species occurred in 1995 in Morocco, once a stronghold, with an unconfirmed sighting made in 2001.
The role of officially declaring extinction, which will see efforts to save the Slender-billed Curlew redirected to other species, is up to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, who will consider the report. The species is still currently listed as Critically Endangered.
Senior author Dr Alex Bond of the Natural History Museum noted that after sightings of the Slender-billed Curlew in Morocco stopped, expeditions were launched to find its breeding grounds. Subsequent analysis of museum collections of juveniles’ feathers suggests the original searches were in the wrong place, but subsequent expeditions to northern Kazakhstan have been no more fruitful. Efforts to save the Slender-billed Curlew didn’t really start until 1988, which was clearly too late.
“As climate change continues, this is going to be the status quo. Things are not getting better for birds. Tackling climate change, habitat destruction and pollution is the best chance we’ve got at protecting them, at home and abroad,” Bond said in the statement.
“This is one of the most fundamentally devastating stories to come out of nature conservation in a century and gets to the very heart of why the RSPB and BirdLife Partnership are doing what we do; that is, ultimately, to prevent extinction of species,” said co-author Nicola Crockford, Principal Policy Officer for the RSPB. “How can we expect countries beyond Europe to step up for their species when our comparatively wealthy countries have failed?”
Things are looking down – not just for the now-extinct Slender-billed Curlew, but other members of the curlew family
Image Credit: NHM
In addition to the Mediterranean, the curlew had the misfortune to choose two warzones as wintering groundsin Yemen and the Mesopotamian Marshes. The marshes were drained as part of a reprisal against the inhabitants, with the ecosystem as collateral damage.
Knowing the cause of the curlew’s demise is important for protecting birds with similar lifestyles, including the Eurasian Curlew, which breeds in Britain instead of Siberia, and the Black-tailed Godwit. There were eight members of the Numenius genus, with one considered probably extinct and most others on the Red List. One of these is among four British migratory shorebirds that have just had their statuses reclassified for the worse. The tendency of the genus to have a long life but low reproductive success puts its members at unusual risk.
“The importance of coastal wetland non-breeding areas and upland, grassland and wetland breeding grounds cannot be overestimated, and the threats they face worldwide, should not be ignored,” Crockford added. “This is why we need governments, donors and other stakeholders to secure the ecological networks required by these birds along their flyways.”
Alex Berryman of Birdlife International noted; “90 percent of bird extinctions [have been of] island species. However, while the wave of island extinctions may be slowing, the rate of continental extinctions is increasing.”
Crockford noted that protecting migratory species poses a particular challenge; it only works if countries at both ends of the migration route (and sometimes those in between) step up. “Just as carbon in the atmosphere is a measure of international efforts to combat climate change, the status of migratory species is an indicator of the success of international efforts to conserve biodiversity,” she said. The comparison does not invite confidence.
The paper is published open access in IBIS: The International Journal of Avian Science.
How do the perspectives of the interviewees differ regarding the implications of the Slender-billed Curlew’s extinction on future conservation strategies?
1. Introduction of the interviewees and their expertise on the topic
– Dr Alex Bond, Senior author of the study and expert on avian conservation from the Natural History Museum
– Nicola Crockford, Principal Policy Officer for the RSPB and an expert on international bird conservation
- Dr Berryman, Conservation researcher at Birdlife International with a focus on migratory bird species
2. Assessing the Impact of Extinction of Slender-billed Curlew on Avian Conservation
– How significant is the extinction of Slender-billed Curlew for avian conservation?
– What lessons can be learned from the extinction of Slender-billed Curlew for future conservation efforts?
– In what ways can the extinction of Slender-billed Curlew impact other migratory bird species?
- How can the cause and impact of the extinction of Slender-billed Curlew be used to inform conservation strategies for other bird species?
– What are some of the major challenges in protecting migratory bird species, particularly those that migrate across multiple countries?
3. Impact of Habitat Destruction and Climate Change on Avian Conservation
– How has habitat loss contributed to the decline and eventual extinction of Slender-billed Curlew?
- To what extent does climate change threaten the survival of migratory bird species, and what can be done to mitigate these threats?
– What role do countries with migratory bird habitats play in conserving these species, and how can they cooperate with other nations to protect them?
– Can effective conservation strategies be developed without considering the impact of human activity, such as development and industrialization, on bird habitats?
– As climate change becomes increasingly prevalent, what measures should be taken to prepare for potential future extinctions of bird species, particularly those that rely on specific habitats?
4. The Importance of International Cooperation in Avian Conservation Efforts
– Why is it important for countries along the migratory route of bird species, as well as those in between, to cooperate in conservation efforts?
– What are some examples of successful international conservation efforts for avian species, and how can they be rep
