This book, published spring 2008, identifies California's most threatened bird species. 74 of CA's birds are in trouble and 5 of those are already gone from the state.
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cover art by Keith Hansen
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Editors: W. David Shuford and Thomas Gardali
Published by Western Field Ornithologists and CA Department of Fish and Game
Species accounts by 48 authors.*
Ordering Information
This publication is no longer available for purchase, but can be accessed, updated and downloaded free of charge by visiting this web address: http://data.prbo.org/apps/bssc/
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NEW collaborative website on The Bird Species of Special Concern
Click on the links below to learn more about this publication
About the Book
New Book Reveals Birds of Conservation Concern in California
What do the Purple Martin, Burrowing Owl, Least Bittern, and Grasshopper Sparrow have in common? These bird species and seventy others have the distinction of being included in a new book of bird species of conservation concern in California. The newly published California Bird Species of Special Concern: A Ranked Assessment of Species, Subspecies, and Distinct Populations of Birds of Immediate Conservation Concern in California, is a collaborative project of PRBO Conservation Science, the California Department of Fish and Game, and Western Field Ornithologists. The book, the first full-length assessment of all of California’s sensitive species, will be of value to every field ornithologist, conservationist, wildlife biologist, biological consulting company, and planner in California.
Within the 450 pages of the book, the authors provide a summary of the status of California’s at-risk bird species using the latest data to describe current populations, ranges, and threats. Birds of all types, including seabirds, raptors, shorebirds, waterfowl, and perching birds are represented on the list. Habitats with high numbers of special concern birds include wetlands, scrublands, grasslands, and riparian forests—all habitats with the highest rates of loss in California.
“We hope this volume will support bold acts of conservation for at-risk birds and for others now less threatened so they will not one day go the way of the Dodo and the Passenger Pigeon” remarked PRBO Conservation Science biologists and volume editors Dave Shuford and Tom Gardali.
The California Bird Species of Special Concern is an important step toward raising awareness of the conservation needs of California’s birds among the public, conservationists, biologists, and planners in California. This volume can help prioritize and guide how research and conservation projects are conducted to ensure that the birds and habitats we all depend on survive into the future.
Major support for the production and printing this book has been generously provided by California Department of Fish and Game, Audubon California, BonTerra Consulting, EDAW, H. T. Harvey & Associates, Jones & Stokes, LSA Associates, The Nature Conservancy, PRBO Conservation Science, SWCA Environmental Consultants, and Western Field Ornithologists. Funding and donations from these and other sources have substantially lowered the cost of the book.
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Previous Bird Species of Special Concern (BSSC) lists
Information on these lists and state threatened and endangered species can be found at CDFG’s website http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/t_e_spp/bird.html.
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How species are considered for the list
BSSC Criteria and Ranking Scheme – this explains the definition of a BSSC, how nominees for the list were selected, the objective criteria by which all nominees were scored, and the ranking process by which taxa were selected for the draft list and placed within three levels of conservation priority.
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Definition of a Bird Species of Special Concern
"Bird Species of Special Concern" (BSSC) in California are those species, subspecies, or identified populations that currently satisfy one or more of the following criteria:
- May meet the state definition of threatened or endangered but have not formally been listed.
- Are extirpated from the state totally or in their primary seasonal or breeding role and were never listed as state threatened or endangered.
- Are listed as federally, but not state, threatened or endangered.
- Are experiencing, or formerly experienced, serious population declines or range retractions that if continued, or resumed, could qualify them for state threatened or endangered status.
- Have naturally small populations exhibiting high susceptibility to risk from any factor(s) that if realized could lead to declines that would qualify them for state threatened or endangered status.
More details on how bird species of special concern are defined can be found in the "how species are considered" section above.
