Vibrant Bird Species Making Unexpected Comeback Thanks to Conservation Efforts

A vibrant species of bird has made a remarkable comeback after decades of endangerment.

A red-cockaded woodpecker goes into its nest to feed its young in Boiling Spring Lakes. / KEN BLEVINS/STARNEWS / USA TODAY NETWORK

Humans have been impacted greatly by all of the changes that the world is undergoing. With temperatures on the rise, natural disasters have become more prevalent in some regions.

Forest fires, hurricanes and flooding have impacted several areas around the United States. But, it isn’t only humans who are feeling the impact of this devastation; all living creatures are impacted.

With natural habitats being wiped away, whether it be Mother Nature or human-caused, some wildlife have found itself on the endangered species list. The red-cockaded woodpecker was among them.

For more than 50 years, the bird was on the endangered list, at risk of going extinct. Unlike other woodpeckers, that live in dead trees, the red-cockaded calls longleaf pine forests home and burrows into pine trees that are still alive and thriving, normally aged between 60-80 years.

At one time, they were the most diverse and biggest habitats in the country. But, that has changed over time because of several factors, including fires and urbanization, leaving that ecosystem as one of the most endangered in the world.

With the number of those trees dwindling, and global temperatures on the rise, their numbers were dropping significantly as well. For a long time, they thrived in the southeastern United States.

After all of these years, the red-cockaded woodpecker is making a comeback.

As shared by the Center for Biological Diversity, the bird has been downgraded from endangered to threatened. While there is still work to be done, this is a step in the right direction as conservation efforts are paying off.

In addition to that announcement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added that things have improved so much for the woodpecker that the species is no longer at risk of extinction.

"These beautiful birds are making an incredible comeback thanks to the Endangered Species Act,” said Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, via Jenna Reilly of The Cool Down.

Passed by Congress in 1972, the Endangered Species Act ensured protections were put in place for any wildlife in danger of going extinct for that species and the ecosystems they are a part of that rely on them.

For the red-cockaded woodpecker, the destruction of their habitat is still something that needs to be overcome. The progress is truly impressive, but the job is far from done.

"Decades of active management by local, state, and federal agencies have paid off, but a lot more still needs to be done to protect the longleaf pine forests these woodpeckers and hundreds of other species call home,” Harlan added.