The World’s Rarest… is a project intended to “highlight the plight of the most threatened species on Earth and to raise funds to support their conservation”. The initial emphasis is on birds in danger of extinction:
The World’s Rarest project will focus initially on birds and contribute to BirdLife International’s Preventing Extinctions Programme. The project started with the launch of an exciting international photo competition, aimed at providing the images for a new book entitled The World’s Rarest Birds.
The initial photo competition has now closed (and you can see the winning entries on the website), but there are still some rare birds for which images are still required.
These include several endemic Caribbean species, such as the Bahama Swallow, the Bay-breasted Cuckoo and the Hispaniolan Crossbill (both of which are found in the Dominican Republic and Haiti), the White-breasted Thrasher (from St. Lucia and Martinique), and the Semper’s Warbler (endemic to St. Lucia).
See theworldsrarestbirds.com for a complete list of species for which photos are still needed, and for instructions on how to share any relevant photos you may have. The website mentions a “second competition to secure mages of the species still required for the book”, but it’s not clear whether this competition is still open to new entries.
