The surprising recovery of once-rare birds

Photo: Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis pratensis) at Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge – January 17, 2012. Photo credit: Keenan Adams (USFWS) via Flickr. Public Domain. Article by Tom Langen. The Conversation – September 9, 2025.

When I started bird-watching as a teenager, a few years after the first Earth Day in 1970, several species that once thrived in my region were nowhere to be found. Some, like the passenger pigeon, were extinct. Others had retreated to more remote, wild areas of North America. In many cases, humans had destroyed their habitat by cutting down forests, draining wetlands and converting grasslands to agriculture. Pesticides such as DDT, air and water pollution, and the shooting of birds added to the drop in numbers. […]

Click here to view original web page at www.theconversation.com