Also known as the little blue macaw, Spix’s macaw is a macaw species that was endemic to Brazil. It was already rare when it was discovered in 1819 due to a century of burning, logging, and grazing of the Caatinga, a shrubland and thorn forest exclusive to north east Brazil. The species went a further rapid decline in the 1970s due to hunting and trapping, further deforestation, and the construction of the Sobradinho Dam, and in 2019 it was declared extinct in the wild.

There is a small captive population, and although attempts have been made to breed from these birds, the success rates have been low due to inbreeding which has led to infertility and a high number of embryo deaths. Recently, there have been developments with artificial insemination and a reintroduction programme has seen three Spix’s macaws born in the wild in the state of Bahia in Brazil.

The Madagascar pochard is a critically endangered diving duck that lives exclusively on inland wetlands in Madagascar, generally preferring shallow marshes and lakes with dense vegetation. In the 1940s and 1950s its population suffered a major decline due to deforestation, pollution, and the introduction of fish species that killed many pochard chicks and damaged nesting sites.

By the 1990s it was thought to be extinct, but in November 2006, nine adults and four ducklings were discovered on a lake in a remote area of Madagascar. Lake Matsaborimena, or Red Lake, is a cold, deep lake with few aquatic plants, and not suitable for the birds to survive, so the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in partnership with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, removed a clutch of eggs and incubated them in captivity. Further breeding led to more hatchings, and in 2018, 21 Madagascar pochards were released onto Lake Sofia, an isolated freshwater lake in the north of the island. In 2020 they successfully bred in the wild.

Classed as vulnerable, The Honduran emerald is a species of hummingbird endemic to Honduras, found in just three widely fragmented areas in the departments of Santa Bárbara, Cortés, Yoro, and Olancho, and with an estimated population of between 10,000 and 20,000 individuals.

Up to 90 percent of the Honduran emerald’s habitat has been lost to agriculture and human habitation or degraded due to cattle grazing, which has had a severe impact on the species’ population. In 2005, the American Bird Conservancy, supported the creation of the Honduran Emerald Reserve in the Aguan Valley, a 650 hectare site of tropical dry forest habitat. However, despite the IUCN dropping its assessment of the bird from Threatened due to increased knowledge about its distribution, numbers are thought to still be in decline.

Very little is known about the Antioquia brushfinch. It was only scientifically described in 2007, when three specimens held in museums in Antioquia in Colombia, and previously thought to be slaty brushfinches, were re-examined and found to be separate species. Its scientific name refers to its pale underparts as well as to commemorate the Columbian lepidopterologist, Bianca Huertas, and wife of the ornithologist Thomas M. Donegan who described the species.

Until 2018, it was thought to be extinct when an eagle-eyed agronomist spotted an individual on his way to Sunday Mass in San Pedro de los Milagros. Since then fewer than 100 Antioquia brushfinches have been found with its scarcity thought to be due to habitat loss. Conservation efforts are underway to identify and protect areas of natural scrub that the species likes to call home.

Also known as the toki, the crested ibis is a large white, exotic-looking waterbird with a patch of partially bare red skin on its head, that inhabits the pine forests of eastern Asia. The crested ibis has important roots in Japanese culture with the oldest record of the bird found in the Chronicles of Japan compiled in 720. It became extinct in Japan in 2003 and at one point was thought to be extinct in China too until its rediscovery in 1981.

Overhunting, pesticides, habitat loss, and winter starvation have all contributed to its demise. A successful conservation programme in Japan has seen hundreds of captive-born birds released into the wild with the first pair successfully breeding on Sado Island in 2012. In China, the crested ibis is on the country’s State Protection List with over 130 colonies remaining.

The rufous-headed hornbill is a critically endangered species of bird that lives in the rainforests on the islands of Negros and Paney in the Philippines. Also known as Walden’s hornbill and the Visayan wrinkled hornbill, and locally called dulungan, it has mostly black plumage and a large reddish-orange casque with wrinkles on its lower bill.

Rufous-headed hornbills nest in cavities in trees using saliva and mud to seal the hole with the female and chicks inside. They reproduce very slowly, breeding only once every few years and due to severe deforestation for logging and lack of nesting sites, numbers have dwindled to a total population of about 150. A conversation programme is underway with nest boxes erected in suitable habitats to encourage breeding.

The other major threats to the species are hunting and capture for the illegal wildlife trade. Philincon, an initiative for environmental conservation, pays local residents to guard the hornbills’ nests and offers a bounty for successful fledges which has seen poaching rates dramatically reduced.

The orange-bellied parrot is endemic to southern Australia and one of just a few species of parrot to migrate. It breeds in South West Tasmania in eucalyptus trees on the edge of buttongrass moors and usually no further than 30 km from the coast. In the winter it migrates to the coast of South-East Australia inhabiting salt marsh estuaries and lagoons. Sometimes making a stop-off at King Island in the Bass Strait.

Orange-bellied parrots exhibit sexual dimorphism; the male has a bright grassy-green head and upperparts, yellow underparts ,and an orange patch on its belly. The wings are blue and there is a thin blue line between its eyes. The female is duller green overall. It feeds in flocks or pairs, foraging low on the ground for glasswort, seeds, and berries.

It used to be much more widespread found along the mainland coast from Sydney to Adelaide during breeding season, but its range has shrunk due to habitat loss, disease, and lack of genetic diversity. In 2016 it was estimated that there were just 16 individuals left in the wild. A captive breeding programme has seen numbers recover somewhat, although in 2018 it was ranked as the second most likely bird to go extinct in Australia after the King Island brown thornbill,