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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteBird extinctions usually result from several pressures acting together, not one universal cause. Habitat conversion and degradation can remove food, nesting sites and shelter; climate change and severe weather can alter the conditions birds depend on. Invasive species, hunting and trapping, and other direct or indirect impacts can compound the damage. Which pressure matters most depends on the species, place and period.
How the main threats compare
BirdLife International’s 2025 update reports how often different threats affect assessed globally threatened bird species. These figures describe threats to species at risk today; they are not percentages of all bird extinctions attributable to each cause. Categories overlap, so they cannot be added into a total.
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| Threat | Share of globally threatened bird species affected |
|---|---|
| Agriculture | 73% |
| Logging | 50% |
| Invasive alien species | 43% |
| Hunting and trapping | 41% |
| Climate change | 37% |
Source: BirdLife International, 2025. One species can face several of these pressures at once. BirdLife also notes that shifts in recorded threat prevalence can reflect improved knowledge as well as real changes.
How habitat loss pushes birds toward extinction
Conversion removes habitat
Habitat conversion replaces an area so extensively that it becomes entirely or almost entirely unsuitable for its original wildlife. Agricultural expansion, forestry and large infrastructure development can eliminate feeding, nesting and shelter areas, leaving birds with less room to survive and reproduce.
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Degradation makes remaining habitat less useful
Habitat can remain in place yet lose its ability to support a population. Logging, for example, can fragment forests or change their structure; other forms of disturbance can reduce food, nesting places or reproductive success. This damage may be less obvious than outright clearance, and species do not all respond in the same way.
Habitat pressure can also magnify other threats. BirdLife gives deforestation interacting with climate change to increase extreme wildfire risk as one example. Its explanation of habitat change distinguishes conversion and degradation from direct mortality and other indirect impacts.
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How climate change contributes
Climate change can alter the conditions birds rely on, while severe weather can add acute stress. These effects may make it harder to find suitable habitat or reproduce, and they can compound pressures such as habitat degradation. BirdLife’s 2025 figure—37%—means climate change is recorded as a threat for that share of globally threatened bird species; it does not mean climate change caused 37% of bird extinctions.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11A historical analysis found the combined category “climate change and severe weather” became more prominent among recorded avian extinctions over roughly the last century. Because the category combines climate change with severe weather, and concerns historical records, it does not establish climate change as the largest current driver.
Why other causes and geography matter
Invasive species and direct killing
Introduced species can harm birds through predation, disease, competition or habitat degradation. Hunting and trapping cause direct mortality. The historical record and present-day threat assessments are not interchangeable: a pressure’s frequency among living threatened species does not by itself show how often it caused past extinctions.
Historical patterns differed by setting
A 2012 peer-reviewed analysis identified 279 extinct or possibly extinct “ultrataxa” since 1500—141 species and 138 subspecies. In that dataset, 78.7% of recorded species extinctions occurred on oceanic islands. The leading recorded drivers varied: agriculture-linked habitat loss and degradation featured most on continents, hunting on continental islands, and invasive alien species on oceanic islands. These are historical patterns, not a rule that determines the cause for every bird or island.
The study’s broader lesson is that causes are rarely isolated. A species may be exposed to habitat change and direct mortality, for example, making a single-cause explanation misleading.
What current bird declines show
BirdLife International’s 2026 report says 45% of migratory bird species are declining and one in nine migratory species is threatened with extinction. These figures apply specifically to migratory birds, not all bird species. The report also says species dependent on marine habitats, forests and coastal wetlands are faring particularly poorly. BirdLife’s 2026 report launch describes the Slender-billed Curlew as officially declared extinct in 2025; its last confirmed record was in Morocco in February 1995. The report calls it the first global bird extinction in mainland Eurasia and Africa in recent centuries.
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What can help prevent further extinctions
Protecting and restoring habitat is essential, but it may not be enough on its own when other pressures remain. Conservation needs to address the threats affecting each species rather than assume one intervention fits all.
- Prevent habitat conversion and restore degraded feeding, nesting and shelter areas.
- Reduce other pressures where they apply, including invasive species and hunting or trapping.
- For migratory birds, protect connected sites and habitats across the full flyway, since the loss of one important link can put the route at risk.
BirdLife’s 2026 report describes coordinated action across countries as having halted the decline of the Egyptian Vulture’s Balkan breeding population. It is an example of conservation progress, not proof that the same approach will work identically for every species.
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