Audubon reported earlier that the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow population is in serious trouble. This week, we acted on one priority by sending a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommending they start a captive breeding program for the Florida subspecies as early as next spring.

There is some risk in capturing the Florida subspecies, but we think the population decline has been so rapid that delay would be a greater peril. Dr. Reed Noss, former chair of the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow Working Group, and Dr. Reed Bowman, Director of Archbold Bioloigcal Station's Avian Ecology Laboratory, co-signed the letter.  In addition to our letter, we enclosed a resolution from the Everglades Coalition that also supports breeding the Florida subspecies.

Captive breeding is an emergency step to help save this sparrow from extinction. It is only undertaken to give researchers and managers time to determine the cause of the population declines and take corrective measures.  These studies may take years to complete. See our 2012 Status Brief on the Endangered Florida Grasshopper Sparrow fact sheet by clicking here.

The good news is there are large tracts of suitable habitat on conservation lands to re-release sparrows to, once there is more understanding of the causes of current population declines.

Click here to stay connected to the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow on Facebook.