Images of a tiny red bird that barely fills the palm of one’s hand appear everywhere in Venezuela — printed on money, labels of craft beer bottles and the cover of children’s school books.
But the finch-like red siskin is vanishing from the wild at an alarming rate, falling prey to a century of shrinking forests and poachers cashing in on their brilliant red feathers, prized around the world by breeders of exotic birds.
That threat has brought together an international team including scientists from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and poor coffee farmers in Venezuela’s remote . . .
