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Our feathered friends (B2-C1)

1418 Vues 2 J'aime Posté sur: May 11th 2021

Our feathered friends

Niveau B2-C1 (avancé)

GE110521-4.jpg

© CC BY-SA 3.0

There is a popular quote by Jacques Deval that says, “God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.”

In just these two sentences, the plight of birds over hundreds of years has been summed up concisely. There are more than 10,000 species of stunning birds that call our planet home. However, many of them are facing extinction. Let’s have a look at some of our feathered friends who have been unfortunate enough to make the endangered species list.

The New Caledonian owlet-nightjar not only has a uniquely original name, it is also extremely elusive. The last sighting of this mysterious bird was in 1998. Previously to that, only two specimens of the owlet-nightjar were preserved – the first from 1880 and the second dated to 1915. While it is safe to say from evidence that this bird does exist, expeditions to New Caledonia to study it in 2002 and 2007 yielded nothing. Experts think there may be between 1 and 49 adult owlet-nightjars left, which is tragic.

The Bengal florican lives in the grasslands and forest of Cambodia, as well as in the foothills of the Himalayas. There are fewer than 1,000 adult birds left in the wild, so the Cambodian government set up six conservation areas in an attempt to protect the breeding grounds of this endangered bird. The Cambodians have also been promoting awareness of the plight of these birds in order to reduce poaching. Hats off to the Cambodian government!

GE110521-1.jpg

© CC BY-SA 4.0

Small but vicious, the forest owlet brandishes impressively big talons enabling it to prey on animals much bigger than itself. The last of these 70 to 400 specimens can be found in central India. For more than a hundred years, the forest owlet was thought to be extinct, but was rediscovered in 1997 by Pamela Rasmussen – an American ornithologist.

While these are only three examples of endangered birds, there are, as of December 2019, 460 endangered bird species worldwide and 683 bird species which are critically endangered.

feathered = à plumes

a plight = situation désespérée

concisely = en quelques mots

stunning = éblouissant

to face = faire face à

elusive = évasif

previously = auparavant

to yield = (ici) donner, rapporter

grasslands = prairie

foothills = contreforts

the wild = la nature

breeding grounds = une zone de reproduction

awareness = conscience

poaching = braconnage

to brandish = brandir

to prey on = chasser

Marque: Rare
Publié dans: Culture

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