A waterbird from Madagascar has become extinct after carnivorous fish were introduced to the lakes where it lived, experts said today as they warned an eighth of bird species around the world now face extinction.
The number of birds threatened with global extinction has risen, according to the latest assessment, and now stands at 1,240 species.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List’s update for birds, carried out by Birdlife International, said 25 species had been added to the list of those at risk.
Just under half were added because they are newly-recognised species, such as two buntings from the UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha, but 13 joined the list because they are more at risk of being wiped out.
There was some good news in the update, including for the Azores bullfinch, which was downgraded from “critically endangered” to the lower “endangered” category after conservation work to remove the threat caused by non-native plants in its habitat and to restore natural vegetation.
But the Alaotra grebe has been driven to extinction by the introduction of non-native carnivorous fish to lakes in the area of east Madagascar where it was found, and by the use of fishing nets which caught and drowned the bird.
Birdlife International’s director of science, policy and information, Dr Leon Bennun, said “no hope now remains” for the wetland bird.
The loss of the grebe brings the total number of bird species which are thought to have become extinct since 1600 to 132.
The RSPB’s international director Dr Tim Stowe said: “The confirmation of the extinction of yet another bird species is further evidence that we are not doing enough in the fight to protect the world’s wildlife.
“Although there are some key successes, overall the trend is downward, bringing more species year on year to the brink of extinction and beyond.”
Other wetland birds are under increasing pressure from the introduction of invasive species, as well as from drainage and pollution of their habitats, the conservationists warned.
The marsh-dwelling Zapata rail, from Cuba, has been uplisted to critically endangered, the highest category of risk of extinction, in the face of threats from introduced mongooses and exotic catfish.
The only nest of the secretive species ever found was described by the Caribbean ornithologist James Bond — whose name provided the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s famous spy.
Once common wader species in Asia and Australia, such as the great knot and the Far Eastern curlew have seen numbers decline sharply in the face of pollution and drainage of coastal wetlands.
Dr Stuart Butchart, Birdlife’s global species programme officer, said: “Wetlands are fragile environments, easily disturbed or polluted, but essential not only for birds and other biodiversity but also for millions of people around the world as a source of water and food.”
Elsewhere, the white-bellied cinclodes from Peru and the black-winged starling, found in Indonesia, have also been uplisted to critically endangered.
And in Europe, the Corsican nuthatch and the recently-recognised Monteiro’s storm-petrel, have been added to the list of those birds under threat of disappearing.
But three birds have been dropped from the list of threatened species because of improvement in their status or reductions in threats — the Laysan albatross, the ochraceous piculet, a kind of woodpecker found in Brazil, and the Elliot’s pheasant from China.
And along with the Azores bullfinch, the yellow-eared parrot from Colombia and the Chatham albatross have been downlisted from critically endangered to endangered.
Dr Butchart said: “These successes show what is possible, and they point the way forward to what needs to be done by the global community.
And he said: “2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity; world leaders failed to stem the decline of biodiversity. We cannot fail again.”