As the door of the wire enclosure is unlatched, a small coal-black bird hops forward. For a moment, it perches at the threshold and cocks its head quizzically at its newfound liberty, then flits into the undergrowth of the surrounding savanna. Within just a few minutes, its mate, a chestnut-brown female, follows suit. These two great-billed seed finches are part of a decades-long conservation project that aims to reintroduce one of Brazil’s most endangered species into a part of the Cerrado grassland that used to be its home before poaching for trade wiped out the birds. Sentenced by song A native of savanna ecosystems, the great-billed seed finch (Sporophila maximiliani) , feeds on flowering grasses and sedges, particularly on sword grass (Paspalum virgatum) and plays an important role in seed dispersal. Although it occupies a broad range across parts of Bolivia, Venezuela, Suriname, the Guianas and Brazil, it’s rare wherever it occurs and is categorized as endangered on the IUCN Red List. In Brazil, where the species clings on in small areas of the Cerrado and the southern Brazilian Amazon, it’s considered critically endangered. Even optimistic population estimates are dire, at fewer than 2,500 mature individuals and no more than 250 in any given population. According to Luis Silveira, curator of ornithological studies at the University of São Paulo’s Museum of Zoology, the situation may be far worse: “A few years ago, there were probably no more than 100 wild birds left in all of Brazil.” While habitat loss and…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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