Can the western subspecies of Yellow-billed Cuckoo be saved from extinction?

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Historically, the California Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus occidentalis) was considered common in river bottoms throughout western United States and southern British. It began a drastic decline in numbers as the riparian forests on which it depended were removed for fuel and to make way for agriculture and grazing. Along with local declines, there was an overall range contraction; the last known breeding birds were in British Columbia in the 1920s, in Washington in the 1930s, in Oregon in the 1940s, and in California north of the Sacramento Valley in the 1950s. Clearing for agriculture, flood control, and urbanization has resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of hectares of riparian habitat throughout the West. Examples of this massive habitat destruction include (1) the Los Angeles basin, which supported hundreds of cuckoos prior to 1900, no longer supports any riparian habitat; (2) the Buena Vista Lake area of Kern County, where ornithologists collected 17 cuckoos in three weeks in 1921, has been converted to a seemingly endless sea of cotton fields; and (3) the Sacramento Valley, where the species was once common, now has less than 1% of the original habitat and supports fewer than 50 pairs of breeding cuckoos. Remnant fragments of riparian habitat throughout the West are still endangered by degradation, clearing, and inundation. For these reasons the future of the California Yellow-billed Cuckoos appears uncertain. In this paper we present the results of field surveys from California that further document this species' decline. We also discuss causes for these recent declines and prospects for the future.

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Reference Code: A87LAY01IDUS

Full Citation: Laymon, S. A., and M. D. Halterman. 1987. Can the western subspecies of Yellow-billed Cuckoo be saved from extinction? Western Birds 18(1):19-25.

Location: ANIMAL EF: COCCYZUS AMERICANUS OCCIDENTALIS