1,227, or 12 percent, of all known bird species are threatened with extinction, and 192 are critically endangered, according to a 14 May update to the Red List of species at risk, which is produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

There’s not much change on last year’s bird survey, which is performed for IUCN every year by BirdLife International. (The entire Red List is updated separately in the autumn). But in the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, a Galapagos medium tree-finch (Camarhynchus pauper) has been upgraded to “critically endangered”, partly as a result of an introduced parasitic fly. Eight other species have also been uplisted to this category – two being the only novel additions to the list: the gorgeted puffleg (Eriocnemis isabellae, pictured), and the antioquia brush-finch (Atlapetes blancae), both from Colombia.

There were some conservation success stories, however.

Six species were downlisted from the critically endangered category. In Brazil, Lear’s macaw (Anodorhynchus leari, pictured) – named after English nonsense poet Edward Lear – has increased in numbers four-fold. A new population of the Mauritius Fody (Foudia rubra) has been translocated on a predator-free offshore island.

Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of the species programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, told Reuters that a hidden problem was that many common birds were getting less frequent in the skies but were not yet rated endangered. “There are groups you don’t see any more in large numbers – such as swifts, larks, swallows.”

The bulo burti boubou (Laniarius liberatus), a Somalian bird, was removed from the list altogether after DNA analysis found it to be merely a colour-variant of the Somali Boubou.

Images: Gorgeted Puffleg/Lucy Garrett; Lear’s Macaw/Andy and Gill Swash