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Colorado Plateau Field Station: Yellow-billed Cuckoo Habitat Requirements and Riparian Habitat Inventory of the Salt River Valley and the Lower San Pedro River, Arizona, USA Objectives: (1) Identify habitat requirements of the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a Candidate Species under the Endangered Species Act; (2) Inventory riparian habitat in the Salt River and the Lower San Pedro River and identify areas of Yellow-billed Cuckoo habitat and potential habitat; and (3) Identify and survey riparian restoration areas for Yellow-billed Cuckoo presence/absence and breeding and compare restoration area habitat characteristics with known cuckoo habitat. Project Description: Western populations of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus occidentalis) have decreased and suffered catastrophic range reductions in the twentieth century and its future is uncertain. It recently became a Candidate Species under the Endangered Species Act and it is a Partner's In Flight High Priority Species. Despite concern over the fate of this species, few aspects of Yellow-billed Cuckoo life history have been adequately studied. Particularly in the Southwest, the basic habitat requirements of this species are largely unknown. Some of the largest concentrations of the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo occur within the Sonoran Joint Venture boundaries, including along the Salt and the San Pedro Rivers. We currently have funding from the Salt River Project to conduct cuckoo surveys during the 2003 breeding season. The areas to be surveyed are located in the Salt River, including around Roosevelt Lake, and the Lower San Pedro River. We propose, with cost-share funds from the Sonoran Joint Venture, to expand upon this work by using radio-telemetry to track individual Yellow-billed Cuckoos in order to better determine cuckoo breeding habitat and food requirements. Contact: |
