The threatened yellow-billed cuckoo in the West has been nesting in a wider range of habitats than previously known, a new study found.
The species’ Western population — currently found only in New Mexico and Arizona— was thought to nest mainly near river beds and streams, or riparian areas. But a study published in the Journal of Field Ornithology observed the yellow-billed cuckoo in the arid foothills and mountains of southeast Arizona known as the “Sky Islands.”
“This is a substantially different habitat than was previously known for breeding habitats for western cuckoos, and the numbers that we found are a significant addition to the numbers that were previously known in Arizona in particular,” said Charles Drost, an author of the study and research zoologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Southwest Biological Science Center.
Scientists were able to find evidence of a significant number of cuckoos, but the birds’ population is still relatively small compared to its former numbers. Once found from British Columbia to Mexico, yellow-billed cuckoos in the West have decreased in population by as much as 95 percent, according to USGS.
