Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Two More Birds on Verge of Extinction

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CARACAS, Jun 9 2008 (IPS) - The tiny Carrizal seedeater (Amaurospiza carrizalensis) and the chululú tachirense (Grallaria chthonia) have been added to the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Red List as birds in critical danger of extinction in Venezuela. Their populations are estimated to have fallen below 50 birds each, Miguel Lentino, of Venezuela's Phelps ornithology foundation, told Tierramérica.

“The expansion of the farming frontier, indiscriminate logging, and the introduction of exotic species destroy their habitat and make these bird species vulnerable to extinction,” he said.

The seedeater inhabits an island of the lower Caroní River, in the southeast, where a dam is being built, and the chululú lives in forests of the western state of Táchira.

Of the 1,418 bird species found in Venezuela, at least 26 are endangered, according to the Audubon conservation society.