Yellow-Billed Cuckoo Now a Threatened Species

The yellow-billed cuckoo is now considered a threatened species, and will be protected under the Endangered Species Act, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced Thursday.

This migratory bird has made the western United States its home and breeding ground for many years, but sadly its numbers have dwindled in the past few decades. Some 350 to 495 pairs of the bird remain in the United States, according to the American Bird Conservancy, after severe loss of habitat.

Often called the "rain crow" for its unique habit of singing just before a storm, the yellow-billed cuckoo currently inhabits 12 western states and in Mexico and Canada, with a large presence in southern Arizona.

"Yellow-billed cuckoos were once common along rivers all over the West, but because of our poor treatment of western rivers, they're now found in just a handful of places," Noah Greenwald, director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "With just a little more care, we can restore the rivers the cuckoo needs to survive, benefiting not just this unique songbird, but hundreds of other plants and animals and people too."

Yellow-billed cuckoos breed along streams in forests of cottonwood and willow that once thrived along nearly every water body in the West. But this once abundant bird has lost its precious riparian habitat due to dam construction, agriculture, over-grazing and river flow management, The Associated Press reports.

"While the major threat to yellow-billed cuckoos has been loss of riverside habitat, we do not anticipate any significant new water-related requirements as a result of this listing decision," added Ren Lohoefener, FWS director for the Pacific Southwest Region.

A striking bird with a long tail and flashy white markings, the cuckoo currently takes refuge among more than 5,000 acres in Arizona's upper Cienega Creek, an area the agency wishes to designate as critical habitat for the bird. A final decision won't be made until next year on the matter.