Conservation and Recovery
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Over the past 100 years, western populations of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo have been extirpated or have undergone catastrophic declines in western states primarily due to loss, degradation, and fragmentation of required riparian breeding habitats resulting from anthropogenic activities such as dam construction and operations, groundwater pumping, water diversions, stream channelization and stabilization, livestock grazing, and urban development. Losses in native riparian habitats in the three western states with the highest historical numbers of cuckoos – Arizona, California, and New Mexico – are estimated to be 90-99% and population declines in core breeding areas in these states have been documented in the past two decades.
Based on the determination that loss of the western population would result in a significant gap in the range of the taxon, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) designated all cuckoo populations west of the US Continental Divide as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and listed the DPS Threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act on 3 October 2014. On 20 April 2021, the USFWS released the final critical habitat designation, which includes 298,845 acres of land in portions of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. Currently, there is no federal recovery plan for the cuckoo and, thus, population goals and recovery actions have not yet been established; however, the USFWS is currently working to draft a Species Status Assessment (SSA) for the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo to inform the development of the Recovery Plan.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT:
ARIZONA ECOLOGICAL SERVICES Southwest Region - Arizona ES Field Office (fws.gov)
Western Yellow-Billed Cuckoo Receives Federal Protection under the Endangered Species Act (fws.gov)
The Working Group strives to contribute to the recovery of the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo by providing water and land management agencies with information on 1) the cuckoo’s distribution and abundance during all phases of its annual cycle, 2) stressors to cuckoos and associated habitats, 3) conservation actions that will yield significant benefits to the cuckoo and its habitats, and 4) where, within the cuckoo’s historical range, on-the-ground conservation can successfully promote cuckoo population recovery and viability.