The lost macaws of the Caribbean

Nature Talk
4

It’s good to know that there are other people who think about extinct birds a lot. I have a small book shelf devoted to books detailing avian extinctions. I find them depressing and fascinating, and deeply informative to where species are failed by conservation. The lost Macaws are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of lost diversity in the Caribbean. Think of all the known and unknown flightless birds that have been outcompeted by introduced mammals (today only represented by the possibly extant Zapata rail). The sad part of the whole affair is that without widespread invasive control and native habitat restoration these unique animals will continue to slip to extinction. Island restoration has to happen now not wait 20 years.