Breeding program boosts endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow population

A conservation program has successfully reared 100 sparrows and released them back into their natural environment

America's bird populations may be facing an existential crisis but there is a glimmer of hope for one endangered species at least, with a breeding program helping dramatically boost the population of the endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow.

Around 50 of the birds, found in the prairies of south-central Florida, were estimated to be in the wild in 2018, down from 1,000 in little more than decade. But a conservation program has, for the first time, now successfully reared 100 Florida grasshopper sparrows and released them back into their natural environment.