Threatened bird showing up at higher elevations [ Colorado: yellow-billed cuckoo ]

Grand Junction Media ^ | January 19, 2015 | Dennis Webb

[george76]

Expert says western yellow-billed cuckoo may be more prevalent than first thought. Paonia ornithologist Jason Beason likes to say that there are a lot of cuckoos out there.

The line is good for laughs at presentations like the talks he gave in the Roaring Fork Valley last week, and it accurately reflects the fact that dozens of species of cuckoos populate the Earth in both the Old and New Worlds. These include birds people might not immediately think of as being cuckoos, such as the greater roadrunner in the southwestern United States.

But in the case of the cuckoo of most interest to Beason — the western yellow-billed cuckoo — its numbers are few in the western United States. In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last fall listed the bird as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. It also has proposed critical habitat for the bird in several states, with Colorado critical habitat proposed along rivers in Mesa County and other locations in western and southern Colorado.

...

the birds are secretive by nature. They are far more often heard than seen and don’t even readily respond when birders play back recordings of their calls.

“They don’t announce their presence very much,” he said.

He added, “I think there’s probably more in western Colorado than we know about. … It would be great to do more surveys, get more people out in the field looking for them throughout the western U.S.”

Unfortunately, he said, it’s tough to find funding through the Fish and Wildlife Service for such studies for listed species.

[Texas Eagle]

Trying to get above that cannabis cloud.

[Doogle]

"..taste like dried up chicken but their feathers get stuck in your claws"

[Flycatcher]

In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last fall listed the bird as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Once again, the ESA has abused its tyrannical power. The "western" yellow-billed cuckoo is simply a population segment of the entire complex known as the yellow-billed cuckoo. And it is NOT endangered in any way!

There's another thread about this very abuse of the ESA upthread about the wolf. I pinged you to it earlier.

Sidenote: I happen to know some people who have worked for Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. Don't think I know this Beason guy though.

[george76]

the Fish and Wildlife Service [ and Communist eco- terrorists..] will not be happy.

Colorado Ping ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)

[rktman]

Nice kitty! :>} Probably caused by glow-bull warming/change/discombobulation. It’s so freakin’ hot down around the mile “high” city this time of year. Where on the list of “Never Been ‘Recorded’ Before” does this mind boggling change show up? We have a very limited frame of “recorded” history based on they hundreds of thousands of years of earth’s past. Guess that makes humans pretty arrogant/stupid to think they/we know what’s goin’ on.

[Texas Songwriter]

This is not Sheila Jackson Lee.

[Afterguard]

Actually that’s Frederica Wilson (D FL24)

[george76]

Just another government attempted , private property, land grab that would close down ranching, farming, logging, hunting, energy production, and...

USF&W and pals must be angry at this inconvenient truth.

[Michael.SF.]

That was what came up on the Bing search. The caption was wrong. Thanks

[Carry_Okie]

Unfortunately, he said, it’s tough to find funding through the Fish and Wildlife Service for such studies for listed species.

Once it's listed why spend the money to find out that it's common? That would cut off the funding for "protection."

[george76]

What a racket.

[Michael.SF.]

Is she as cuckoo as SJL?

[Carry_Okie]

What a racket.

For a bureaucrat, failure is job security.

[Doogle]

..spent 10 months at Lowry.....been froze in the morning and walked around in a t-shirt by late afternoon

[exTroll]

No, thats a different Congress Clown. I don’t know this ones name, she is mostly known as the “Hat Lady”.

[Michael.SF.]

I asked the mods to take it down. Thanks

[Afterguard]

She’s a democrat.

[familyop]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-billed_Cuckoo
(pictures)

They’re not seen here, at much higher than 8,000 feet. Have seen more birds this winter, though, with temps for this location being roughly thirty degrees higher than usual for this time of year (part of the warm pattern that stretches to the West coast).