Bird extinction

[3] While often impacted by many factors simultaneously, habitat loss, exploitation, and invasive species are the greatest influences on avian extinction.

While not inherently activities in opposition to wildlife preservation,[8] excessive harvest can significantly harm populations, potentially resulting in extirpation and/or complete extinction.

The ortolan bunting, a songbird considered to be a traditional delicacy, is hunted illegally in France, where it faces complete extirpation.

In the case of the kākāpō, a critically endangered New Zealand parrot, their sole means of defense against predators is via crypsis, involving minimal movement.

This behavior is effective against native predators (i.e., raptors), but does little to dissuade the invasive mammals of New Zealand (e.g., rats, cats, and stoats).

A plump, flightless bird closely related to doves, the dodo lived solely on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

Their relative ease of capture and ample meat made them an appealing food source for mariners, who killed and ate many of them.

Targeted for their coveted skins, eggs, and down, hunters took advantage of the great auk's breeding season, when pairs nested in large colonies on rocky islands.

[22] It was much more difficult to hunt when not breeding, as birds were less concentrated and spent most of their time in frigid waters, where they were swift and adept swimmers.

The last known sighting of the species alive was in 1844 when a breeding pair was found and strangled by fishermen, hoping to sell the birds' valuable skins.

Before the arrival of colonial Europeans to North America, the passenger pigeon was thought to account for up to 40% of all individual birds on the continent.

[25] Their abundance and congregative behavior made them an appealing choice for hunting, and the size of their populations led people to believe they were in no need of protection.

[32] The Carolina parakeet was deemed extinct in the early 1920s, with the last member of its species, a male named Incas, dying in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918.

In comparison to its mainland relatives, the Tasmanian emus were believed to be smaller in size and appeared to have a darker plumage, lacking the distinctive black feather found in other emu subspecies.