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There were two sightings of Western yellow-billed cuckoos this year, both in Delta County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. The secretive birds are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering designating parts of western Colorado as critical habitat for the migratory bird, including lands along the Colorado River through Mesa County. Sightings — which frequently involve people hearing the cuckoo’s distinctive “klak-klak” sound — have been recorded in Mesa and Delta counties in previous years. ... “We have changed the initial map due to comments from the proposed...

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...

A bird native to Arizona and other western states could be listed as a threatened species by the federal government. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo lives along the Verde, Colorado and San Pedro Rivers in Arizona. It also can be found at the Gila River and Rio Grande in New Mexico and the Sacramento and Kern Rivers in California. Federal officials said the bird’s habitat is shrinking because of dams and other construction projects on the rivers, plus cattle grazing.

Chris Matthews: Sarah Palin should sell cuckoo clocks with her coming out every hour. After accusing Sarah Palin of talking like a cuckoo clock, MSNBC host Chris Matthews still had more in the way of pejoratives to unload on the former governor. Speaking on his low-rated Hardball program, Matthews made an analogy about Palin that involved cuckoo clocks and her frequency for commenting on current political events. Referencing her recent comments about Barack Obama’s unpreparedness in the Egypt crisis, Matthews was infuriated at the readiness with which Palin’s comment are always reported on by the media. So what does he...

Dean Supporters Cheer Remark Calling for Fair Trial of Osama bin Laden Apparently pleased that their "foot in the mouth" candidate spoke what was on their minds all along, Howard Dean's supporters on the internet cheered and welcomed his insane remark that Osama bin Laden deserves a fair jury trial before his guilt can be determined. Speaking to a newspaper in New Hampshire today, Howard Dean came down strongly on the side of Osama, and insisted on a fair trial for him. He claimed to have not been convinced of Osama's guilt, although he had no problem believing in...