Birds

Abstract

In this chapter, we present the current situation faced by 30 species of the Yucatán Peninsula which conservation status is currently at stake. We focus primarily on endemic species as well as resident and migrant species of conservation concern. Understanding how these species respond to their changing environment is vital to foreseeing their future in the Yucatán Peninsula. The information available for each species is highly variable, and we report many unpublished data and rely on personal observations to provide species accounts as complete as possible to assess the situation. In general coastal birds are at great risk due to rampant development threatening many coastal ecosystems, especially to the North and East of the peninsula, and because the Caribbean coast is regularly beaten by strong hurricane winds which frequency tends to increase with climate change. Small forest birds so far do not appear vulnerable, but large birds have declined due to hunting pressure or to the pet trade. Natural protected areas cover large tracts of the peninsula and represent most ecosystems, thus ensuring the protection of some species, but many species or populations are found outside these areas and require other strategies.