The future may be brighter for the golden-cheeked warbler, an oft-litigated Texas bird that Fish and Wildlife Service scientists now believe merits downlisting from endangered to threatened status.
A downlisting would retain Endangered Species Act protections for the songbird while offering more leeway for the humans whose path it may cross. It would also signal improved survival prospects for a species once thought to be near a final silencing.
“We consider the degree of threat as moderate as there have been advances in habitat protections over the three decades the species has been ESA-protected,” FWS scientists state in a new species status review, adding that the warbler has “sufficiently high breeding habitat available for conservation that it is not currently at risk of extinction, but its habitat continues to be at risk now and into the future.”
The five-year review made public Monday is the second to be completed for the golden-cheeked warbler since it was listed as endangered in December 1990. At the time of its listing, FWS cited in particular the threats posed by habitat loss and the booming development around the city of Austin.
