The next Passenger Pigeon? A uniquely Canadian bird - the Eskimo Curlew - has not been seen for over half-a-century!

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Species in Canada (COSEWIC).

The Eskimo Curlew. Photo credit - the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The Eskimo Curlew, a bird known to nest only in Canada, has been assessed as Endangered. Given there have been no verified sightings of this wildlife species anywhere since 1963, the Eskimo Curlew is on the brink of becoming the first Canadian bird to be declared Extinct since the Passenger Pigeon nearly 100 years ago. Without a reversal in habitat loss, climate change and direct human impacts, these assessments of Extirpated and Extinct will become more frequent.