The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has begun a comprehensive scientific review to determine whether yellow-billed cuckoos in the western United States should be proposed for protection under the Endangered Species Act and is seeking comments from the public until February 8, 2001. We will conduct a comprehensive review of the species. Our review will include all available information, including information submitted during this comment period by other government agencies, scientists and the public. The bird's most notable features are a long boldly patterned black and white tail, and an elongated and down-curved bill, which is yellow on the bottom. Its plumage is grayish-brown above and white below.
Adults have a narrow, yellow eye ring.
The bird eats primarily large insects such as caterpillars and cicadas as well as an occasional small frog or lizard. The yellow-billed cuckoo breeds from southern Canada south to the Greater Antilles and Mexico. While the yellow-billed cuckoo is common east of the Continental Divide, biologists estimate that more than 90 percent of the bird's riparian habitat in the West has been lost or degraded as a result of conversion to agriculture, dams and river flow management, bank protection, overgrazing, and competition from exotic plants such as tamarisk. Cottage Way, Room W-2605, Sacramento, California 95825. The petition, finding, and supporting data and comments will be available for public inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the above address.