Breeding yellow-billed cuckoo survey and inventory—Idaho Falls District, Bureau of Land Management

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Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) staff mapped potentially suitable yellow-billed cuckoo (YBCU) breeding habitat within the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Idaho Falls District in the Pocatello, Upper Snake, Challis, and Salmon Field Offices. Areas initially mapped within the larger project area were determined through a combined evaluation of historic occurrence records, GIS-based habitat modeling, and estimates of potentially suitable habitat established by IDFG Regional Wildlife Biologists. All estimated YBCU breeding habitat was then field-evaluated by IDFG biologists to verify actual suitability and delineate final survey areas. Call-back surveys to detect the presence of breeding yellow-billed cuckoos were conducted at survey areas in IDFG Regions 6 (Upper Snake) and 7 (Salmon) along the South Fork Snake, main Snake, Big Lost, and Salmon Rivers. The IDFG Region 5 effort (main Snake River below Blackfoot, Idaho) focused on identifying/delineating areas to be surveyed in 2011. Thirty-six (36) forest stands (survey areas) were visited along the main Snake (13), South Fork Snake (17), Big Lost (2), and Salmon (4) Rivers. Although no formal callback surveys were conducted in IDFG Region 5 during 2010, one YBCU vocalization was documented during a reconnaissance visit. Five (5) YBCU were detected within IDFG Region 6: 3 along the South Fork Snake and 2 along the Main Snake Rivers west of the Menan Buttes. No YBCU were detected on areas surveyed along the Big Lost and Salmon Rivers.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology