Posted on 08/18/2014 9:14:39 AM PDT by george76
More than a half-million acres of land across nine Western states is being proposed for designation as critical habitat for the yellow-billed cuckoo.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 546,335 acres of critical habitat is up for listing in 80 separate units in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. The bird is a neotropical migrant that winters in South America and nests along rivers and streams in western North America.
...
The Service is seeking information concerning the western yellow-billed cuckoos biology and habitat, threats to the species and current efforts to protect the bird. The Service also seeks information on the incremental economic effects of the proposed critical habitat designation
(Excerpt) Read more at recordcourier.com ...
I think the reason that Liberals put such importance on teaching evolution in schools is so that we’ll be able to figure out ways to stop it!
The libs will not let that happen to their official party birds.
The "western" yellow-billed cuckoo (YBCU) is NOT a species! It's a race (sub-species) of YBCU. The tyrannical edicts of the ESA should not apply here!
And as far as I know, the western race of YBCU has always been uncommon to rare, but stable. They arrive very late for a neotropic migrant to their breeding grounds, typically arriving in mid-June. Their stronghold seems to be along the Lower Colorado River from around Blythe to Lake Mead, particularly at the Bill Williams NWR near Havasu.
And, yes, hundreds of acres of cottonwoods (their favorite nesting trees) have been replanted in this area, and the reveg work is ongoing.
Again, this is absurd federal overreach, plain and simple, but we all know that.
The same Government agencies that ignore Wind and Solar farms that are killing billions of birds -all species, common and soon to be endangered).
Insanity can be defined as *Man thinking he is God*. AKA Socialist Democrats.
The yellow-billed cuckoo is NOT a brood parasite like the brown-headed cowbird. The native European cuckoo (common cuckoo) is the brood parasite.
The communists will never stop.
And the Ivory billed woodpecker cocked his head and replied,
“Gee, I dunno about no cuckoos. Or beech or birch trees.”
But it was the best piece of ash I ever had my pecker in!”
Go to this link for links to all of the maps. It would appear this is the Fed trying to control major water areas in the west.
Minor ponds from snow melt and rain, too.
Note the Wyoming rancher and the Idaho lot owner in an Idaho subdivision that the EPA was / is harassing with $75,000 per day fines, etc.
Sounds like a drunken Texas DA to me! Hopefully they are endangered!
Sorry.
I would like to see brood-parasite type birds extinct, though.
Bingo.
In the West, real power begins and ends with water rights.
I’m not a big fan of the cowbird either.
Thanks for your informed post.
George is right, the commies will never stop. They have to keep paying the legions of lawyers employed by these commie groups.
They're called the Cuckoo Crew. No joke! Haha.
I vaguely remember that Ann Richards was supposed to use the same bird to lock out thousands of acres in Barton Springs from use by humans in 1994. But the sudden appearance of thousands of farmers and cattlemen on the day she was supposed to sign showed up and pitched their vehicles all around Austin. Some people say they started cleaning their weapons while parked there and this helped to settle her mind.
LOL! That’s funny.
We still have the Eurasion doves coming back in the spring and summer.
Their cooing really bugs the wife and she named them coo coo birds. I tease her that they constantly coo like that because they love her, she doesn’t laugh. LOL!
Feathered perverts!
Looking at the maps of proposed ‘critical habitat’ in my area, almost ALL of it is on private land where farming and ranching takes place. It is also where we farmers and ranchers own our water rights. This is about ending farming and ranching and control of the water, which of course means not using it so it can be ‘free’.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2014/yellow-billed-cuckoo-08-14-2014.html
546,335 Acres in 9 Western States Proposed as Protected Critical Habitat for Yellow-billed Cuckoos
For Immediate Release, August 14, 2014
Contact: Michael Robinson (575) 313-7017
Protection Will Benefit Rare Songbird and Health of Rivers in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming
SACRAMENTO, Calif. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to protect more than a half-million acres of critical habitat across the West for the yellow-billed cuckoo, a songbird that lives along rivers and streams. The bird was proposed for Endangered Species Act protection in October 2013 as part of a 2011 agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity to speed protection decisions for 757 imperiled species nationwide. Todays proposal would protect 546,335 acres of streamside habitat in nine western states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Photo courtesy Flickr Commons/Seabamirum. This photo is available for media use.
This is an important victory not just for yellow-billed cuckoos but for rivers and streams across the West, said Michael Robinson, a conservation advocate at the Center, which first petitioned for the cuckoos protection in 1998.
The cuckoo was identified as being in need of federal protection in 1986. It once thrived along nearly every water body in the West, but its population has been devastated by dams, livestock grazing, water withdrawals, river channelization and other factors. Today it survives in scattered locations in very small numbers, including portions of the Sacramento, Eel and Kern rivers in California; the Colorado, Gila, Verde and San Pedro rivers in Arizona; the Gila and Rio Grande rivers in New Mexico; and scattered locations in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Texas, Wyoming and Utah. Historically it was common from the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle to the mouth of the Colorado River.
The birds Endangered Species Act protection is expected to be finalized in October, and todays proposed critical habitat designation should be finalized in October 2015. Critical habitat protection will require any federally funded or permitted projects that could harm the cuckoos habitat to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that the habitat is not harmed. Species with protected critical habitat are more than twice as likely to be recovering compared to those without.
The cuckoo is a visually striking bird with a long tail with flashy white markings. It is also referred to as the rain crow for its habit of singing right before storms. It breeds in streamside gallery forests of cottonwood and willow. The cuckoo is one of the few species that can eat spiny caterpillars, such as tent caterpillars.
The cuckoos decline is representative of the poor job weve done caring for our waterways, so this proposal is a big step toward being better stewards of our rivers and streams, said Robinson. Protecting these streamside habitats will also protect healthy water quality for people.
Under the landmark 2011 agreement between the Center and the Service to speed review of species awaiting Endangered Species Act decisions, 128 species have gained protection to date, and another 15 have been proposed for protection, including the cuckoo.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 775,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
“The communists will never stop”
Why should they when there is no opposition?
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