The Summer 2025 issue of Bird Conservation, ABC’s member magazine, features an article about new research by ABC scientists that shows which Latin American bird species lack protected habitat — and how much must be conserved to prevent their extinction.
The researchers mapped the habitat of 149 of the most threatened species in Latin America and overlaid those maps with maps of existing reserves — providing an estimate of how much habitat was protected.
In the study, the researchers set goals for each species based on: 1, population (to protect enough habitat to support 1,000 mature individuals or the bird’s total population if less than 1,000), and 2, the percentage of their habitat that is currently protected. While the majority of species met their minimal protection goals, the researchers identified 10 species that fall short of both targets, and a further 54 that do not meet targets for protected habitat.
Most of these 64 bird species are endemic to single countries, and a few occur in two neighboring nations. Below are lists of both groups of species, including links to accounts for many of them in ABC’s ever-growing Bird Library. We’ve listed them by the countries where they live, which are roughly arranged from north to south.
