It was not the most dramatic animal release of all time, but it marked a hoped-for turning point for one of North America’s most endangered birds. In May 2019, the first captive-bred, endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus) and several siblings and friends were driven south from White Oak Conservation where they were hatched to the last dry prairie remaining in Florida.
The small, ground-nesting bird was on the brink of extinction. Its central Florida habitat largely gone, the few remaining birds were particularly vulnerable to snakes and other predators and flooding from heavy rains. To prevent its extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), White Oak Conservation, our Foundation, and others came together on a multi-pronged strategy to bring
the sparrow back from the brink.
White Oak Conservation has had remarkable success captive rearing the sparrow, averaging 13 offspring per breeding pair per year. Since that 2019 release, the wild Florida grasshopper sparrow population has more than doubled. At the initial release site, FWC’s Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, the population increased from 11 breeding pairs in 2018 to at least 37 in 2023. Avon Park Air Force Range was added as a release site in 2021, and although wild Florida grasshopper sparrows were no longer present, released birds remained onsite and successfully bred the season following the first Avon Park release.
Our Foundation, working with the University of Florida and Ducks Unlimited, also helped protect the only known colony on private land — the 27,000-acre DeLuca Preserve in Osceola County, which was gifted to the University in 2022 by the DeLuca family.
Fast forward to 2024: as the sun rose over the central Florida prairie the morning of July 16, another tiny sparrow took a tentative hop into conservation history. If you blinked, you might have missed the release of the 1,000th captive-bred Florida grasshopper sparrow, marking a new milestone for one of North America’s most endangered birds. Accompanied by nine buddies, the 1,000th sparrow joined its wild counterparts at Avon Park Air Force Range.
We wish to thank everyone involved in this project for such outstanding progress in the sparrow’s long-term recovery.
