The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is initiating a captive breeding program in an attempt to save the nearly extinct grasshopper sparrow in Florida.
Experts calculate that if nothing is done to save the species, it would only take three to five years for the bird to become extinct.
A similar species, the dusky seaside sparrow, is already extinct after the last bird died in 1987 at Disney World.
And there has not been a bird species to become extinct in the United States since then, according to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
But even with the new captive breeding initiative, there is still uncertainty about whether the program will be a success.
"Captive breeding is labor intensive and challenging. It is generally done as a last resort and there are no guarantees. But we have to try," said Larry Williams, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Vero Beach, Fla.
"This is an emergency and the situation for this species is dire. This is literally a race against time."
Only 200 of the nearly extinct birds exist, according to estimates from biologists, which is why experts from both the state and federal level plan to hunt for eggs from the species so that they can be placed in incubators and eventually hatched in the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation in Loxahatchee, Fla.
"We know it's going to be hard," Williams said.
"They're small birds living in dense vegetation and they're secretive by nature."
But despite the impending challenges that come along with the captive breeding program, Williams believes that action is necessary regardless of possible obstacles.
"We're trying to prevent a unique part of Florida's landscape from vanishing," he said.