Eighty-one of the country’s bird species are threatened with extinction, said Director of the Biodiversity Secretariat Mrs. R.H.M.P. Abeykoon.
Sri Lanka is one of the dominant biodiversity hotspots in the world with 435 species of birds, she told the Sunday Observer.
She said at present 19 critically endangered bird species and 48 endangered species have been identified.
A spokesman for the Biodiversity Secretariat said that 14 bird species are threatened with extinction and 32 bird species on the brink of extinction have also been identified, according to a nationwide survey on the Red Data Book of 2022.
The birds are faced with the threat of extinction owing to the damage caused to their habitats. It is mainly because of irresponsible human activities that the breeding of the birds has been threatened, the survey noted.