Over the millennia, and across all cultures, people have developed an intimate bond with birds and, for many, birds are their principal connection to the natural world. With so many eyes trained on the planet’s avifauna, birds provide us with a unique insight into the unfolding extinction crisis; the sixth such episode in our planet’s 4.5-billion-year history and the first to be driven by the actions of a single species – our own. Avian extinction risk is comprehensively assessed by BirdLife International using the criteria of the IUCN Red List. The situation is alarming – around the world, birds are in steady decline, with approximately one in eight species now at risk of extinction. Each year, more species slip closer to extinction, whilst even once common birds are now disappearing fast. Yet the universal appeal of birds provides cause for hope. Their plight has been a rallying point around which a large and growing conservation movement has coalesced. A century of global bird conservation has demonstrated that when sufficient effort, resources and political will are brought to bear, bird populations can rebound and their habitats can be restored. Although imminent, mass avian extinction is not (yet) inevitable, and may still be averted if we so choose.