Bird Declines Are Reaching a Tipping Point
Sounding an Alarm About Steep Population Losses
In 2019, a study of 529 bird species with adequate long-term data for analysis (Science, Rosenberg et al.) found that 303 species in North America were declining—more than half of the bird species studied.
Now scientists with the Road to Recovery initiative have issued an alert for 90 declining bird species—birds that are not yet federally listed as threatened or endangered, but that have lost half or more of their breeding population since 1970. The scientists further identified a subset of 70 Tipping Point species that could lose another half or more of their populations in the next 50 years, based on recent trajectories and expert assessments.
These Tipping Point species are high priorities for science and conservation because of their high vulnerability to extinction, high urgency, and steep population declines where known. All are included on the Birds of Conservation Concern List of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and/or state lists of Species of Greatest Conservation Need.
The Next Set of Species Plummeting Toward Endangered Status
Of the 1,093 bird species protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 89 birds have received additional protections as either threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act to prevent their extinction.
The Tipping Point species represent another 70 birds that could be next to face threatened or endangered status. Cumulatively, the Tipping Point species that have sufficient data for monitoring have lost more than two-thirds of their populations in the past 50 years.
Tipping Point species come from varied habitats, but they all have the same urgency—immediate science and conservation actions are needed to turn around declines.
On-Alert and Tipping Point Species
Ninety bird species lost 50% or more of their populations during 1970–2019. Seventy of these species are at a Tipping Point: on a trajectory to lose another 50% of their populations in the next 50 years (39 species), or already have perilously small populations and continue to face high threats, but lack sufficient monitoring data (31 species, indicated with an asterisk).
Tipping Point Species
These 70 species are on a trajectory to lose another 50% of their remnant populations in the next 50 years if nothing changes. Tap or click the links to view species accounts in Birds of the World.
View the list in taxonomic order.
Allen’s Hummingbird
American Golden-Plover
Ashy Storm-Petrel*
Audubon’s Shearwater*
Bachman’s Sparrow
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel*
Bendire’s Thrasher
Bicknell’s Thrush*
Black-capped Petrel*
Black-chinned Sparrow
Black-footed Albatross*
Black-vented Shearwater*
Black Rail*
Black Rosy-Finch*
Black Scoter
Bobolink
Bristle-thighed Curlew*
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch*
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Cassia Crossbill*
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Chimney Swift
Craveri’s Murrelet*
Elegant Tern*
Evening Grosbeak
Fea’s Petrel*
Golden-winged Warbler
Great Black-backed Gull
Greater Sage-Grouse
Guadalupe Murrelet*
Harris’s Sparrow
Heermann’s Gull*
Henslow’s Sparrow
Hudsonian Godwit
Ivory Gull*
King Eider
King Rail
Kittlitz’s Murrelet*
Laysan Albatross*
Least Tern
LeConte’s Sparrow
LeConte’s Thrasher
Lesser Prairie-Chicken*
Lesser Yellowlegs
Mottled Duck
Mountain Plover
Murphy’s Petrel*
Parkinson’s Petrel*
Pectoral Sandpiper
Pinyon Jay
Prairie Warbler
Red-faced Cormorant
Red-legged Kittiwake*
Ruddy Turnstone
Rufous Hummingbird
Saltmarsh Sparrow*
Scripps’s Murrelet*
Seaside Sparrow*
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Sprague’s Pipit
Stilt Sandpiper
Townsend’s Storm-Petrel*
Tricolored Blackbird*
Wandering Tattler
Whimbrel
Whiskered Auklet*
Yellow-billed Loon
Yellow-billed Magpie
Yellow Rail*
On-Alert Species
In addition to the Tipping Point species above, these 20 bird species have lost half their populations in the past 50 years.
Baird’s Sparrow
Black-billed Cuckoo
Black Skimmer
Black Swift
Canada Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Clark’s Grebe
Eastern Whip-poor-will
Grace’s Warbler
Long-billed Dowitcher
Mourning Warbler
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Rock Sandpiper
Snowy Owl
Surfbird
Thick-billed Longspur
Western Grebe
Wilson’s Plover
Wood Thrush
Urgent Action Is Needed to Help These Birds Before They Become Endangered
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Coastal and Oceanic Birds
Nearly a quarter of seabirds found in U.S. waters are at risk of Endangered listing, including murrelets, albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters.
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Grassland Birds
Prairie specialists such as Mountain Plover, Sprague’s Pipit, and Chestnut-collared Longspur have lost more than 75% of their populations since 1970.
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Aridland Birds
Aridland birds are experiencing long-term declines, including Allen’s Hummingbird, Bendire’s Thrasher, and Greater Sage-Grouse.
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Forest Birds
The steepest declines among forest birds include species that specialize on tree seeds (e.g., Pinyon Jay), long-distance migrants (e.g., Bicknell’s Thrush), and aerial insect-eating specialists (e.g., Chimney Swift).
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Wetland Birds
Though many waterbirds benefited from decades of wetland conservation, steep bird declines are still occurring in coastal saltmarshes (e.g., Saltmarsh Sparrow), freshwater marshes (e.g., Yellow Rail), and beaches (e.g., Least Tern).
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Arctic and Alpine Tundra Birds
Shrinking habitats due to changing climate and resource extraction threaten Arctic-breeding shorebirds (e.g., Hudsonian Godwit and Whimbrel) and alpine birds (e.g., Black Rosy-Finch).
Images via Macaulay Library: Laysan Albatross by Lucas Corneliussen; Bobolink by Brad Imhoff; Greater Sage-Grouse by Brandon Nidiffer; Prairie Warbler by Anonymous; King Rail by Anonymous; Hudsonian Godwit by Dorian Anderson.