Sandpiper: Pectoral Sandpiper, originally uploaded by ReinhardG. It may come as a surprise, but American birds are in serious decline. In March of last year, US Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced that one-in-three American birds are endangered. Even once common birds are showing precipitous declines. Birds face a barrage of threats, which are [...]

When do you throw in the towel and concede that a rare species has gone extinct? A new study presents a methodology for helping conservationists answer this difficult question…