“On a recent morning, 10 Florida grasshopper sparrows, tiny brown-speckled birds that are the most endangered on the continent, took” flight on Florida’s central prairie, reports Inside Climate News. Among
the captive-raised sparrows was the 1,000th released on this expanse of grasslands not far from Walt Disney World, the only place on Earth where the birds are found in their natural habitat.
Dozens of conservationists, gathered some distance away to avoid spooking the skittish sparrows, celebrated the milestone in an unprecedented recovery program that in only a few years has doubled the bird’s wild population, from a mere 80 five years ago to some 200 today…Two decades ago, more than 1,000 thrived in the wild.
The sparrow nests surreptitiously among the grasses of the prairie, a habitat that itself is unique in the world and once spanned more than a million acres…The sparrow is among 12 subspecies of grasshopper sparrow that are found throughout North America, Central America and the West Indies.
Recently, a long-lost species of butterfly returned to Pittsburgh. It returned after its food source also returned to Pittsburgh: the pawpaw, a creamy banana-like fruit native to North America: “The pawpaw-dependent zebra swallowtail butterfly, not seen in Pittsburgh since the early 20th century, was last photographed in the Highland Park area in 1937. But now it’s back…Zebra swallowtail butterfly caterpillars feed off the leaves of the pawpaw tree, while the mature adults will often feed on the pawpaw’s nectar as well as minerals from the soil surrounding the trees.”
A rare sticky plant is making a comeback in Scotland. In 2023, carnivorous plants returned to English wetlands.
Sturgeons recently returned to Sweden, a century after they disappeared. In Spain, the Iberian lynx is no longer endangered.
In Brazil, a tumor that kills sea turtles has dramatically diminished. Sea turtles have made a comeback in Florida, with sea turtle nests tripling near Kennedy Space Center.
Fish species are rebounding off the California cast as their young find a sanctuary in abandoned oil rigs.
Wild horses recently returned to Kazakhstan after being absent for two centuries. Florida’s manatees rebounded to their highest number in years.
