page_title: Dusky seaside sparrow
section_title: Causes for extinction
hierarchical_section_title: Dusky seaside sparrow / Causes for extinction
caption_attribution_description: Dusky Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens) by Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904).
context_page_description: The dusky seaside sparrow was a non-migratory subspecies of the seaside sparrow, found in Florida in the natural salt marshes of Merritt Island and along the St. Johns River. The last definite known individual died on June 17, 1987, and the subspecies was officially declared extinct in December 1990.
context_section_description: When Merritt Island was flooded with the goal of reducing the mosquito population around the Kennedy Space Center, the sparrows' nesting grounds were devastated, and their numbers plummeted. Later, the marshes surrounding the river were drained to facilitate highway construction along with the sugar and oil industries; this was a further blow. Eventually, pollution and pesticides took such a high toll that by 1979, only six dusky seaside sparrows were known to exist — all of whom were males; a female was last sighted in 1975.
caption: Illustration by Martin Johnson Heade
exif: {}