More birds slipping towards extinction 02 June 2005 | News story
IUCN –The World Conservation Union, Gland, Switzerland
(02.06.05) - The annual review of the state of the world’s birds
by BirdLife International, one of IUCN’s Red List Consortium
partners, shows that the total number considered to be
threatened with extinction is now 1,212. If this is combined
with the number of Near Threatened species, it gives a total of
exactly 2,000 species in trouble – more than a fifth of the
planet’s remaining 9,775 bird species. Using the IUCN’s Red List
Categories and Criteria, 179 species will now be classified as
Critically Endangered, the highest level of threat. These
include the Azores Bullfinch (Pyrrhula murina), one of Europe's
rarest songbirds, which has been in decline since the early
1990s, with fewer than 300 individuals left. Several species
from Europe appear in the list for the first time, like European
Roller (Coracias garrulous), Krüper’s Nuthatch (Sitta krueperi),
and Red Kite (Milvus milvus). All thr