Yellow-Billed Cuckoo Distribution, Abundance, and Habitat Use Along the Lower Colorado and Tributaries, 2006 Annual Report

Johnson, Matthew; Holmes, Jennifer; Calvo, Christopher; Samuels, Ivan; Krantz, Stefani; Sogge, Mark K.

doi:10.3133/ofr20071097

Cited by 4 publications

(40 citation statements)

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“…Within New Mexico, use is common on the Pecos River, more limited on the Rio Grande (and usually associated with a native component), and absent on the Gila River (Howe 1986; Hunter et al 1988; Woodward et al 2003). More broadly, Yellow‐billed Cuckoos have not been found breeding in Tamarix ‐dominated habitats outside of New Mexico (Johnson et al 2006, 2007), though Tamarix may be a component of the habitat patch. This suggests, as with other bird species, that the suitability of Tamarix as breeding habitat for cuckoos varies across the landscape, with local environmental factors determining its relative habitat value.…”

Section: How Extensive Is Bird Use Of Tamarix?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tamarix as Habitat for Birds: Implications for Riparian Restoration in the Southwestern United States

Sogge

Sferra

Paxton

2008

Restoration Ecology

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Exotic vegetation has become a major habitat component in many ecosystems around the world, sometimes dramatically changing the vegetation community structure and composition. In the southwestern United States, riparian ecosystems are undergoing major changes in part due to the establishment and spread of the exotic Tamarix (saltcedar, tamarisk). There are concerns about the suitability of Tamarix as habitat for birds. Although Tamarix habitats tend to support fewer species and individuals than native habitats, Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas data and Birds of North America accounts show that 49 species use Tamarix as breeding habitat. Importantly, the relative use of Tamarix and its quality as habitat vary substantially by geographic location and bird species. Few studies have examined how breeding in Tamarix actually affects bird survivorship and productivity; recent research on Southwestern Willow Flycatchers has found no negative effects from breeding in Tamarix habitats. Therefore, the ecological benefits and costs of Tamarix control are difficult to predict and are likely to be species specific and site specific. Given the likelihood that high-quality native riparian vegetation will not develop at all Tamarix control sites, restoration projects that remove Tamarix but do not assure replacement by high-quality native habitat have the potential to reduce the net riparian habitat value for some local or regional bird populations. Therefore, an assessment of potential negative impacts is important in deciding if exotic control should be conducted. In addition, measurable project objectives, appropriate control and restoration techniques, and robust monitoring are all critical to effective restoration planning and execution.

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Section: How Extensive Is Bird Use Of Tamarix?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tamarix as Habitat for Birds: Implications for Riparian Restoration in the Southwestern United States

Sogge

Sferra

Paxton

2008

Restoration Ecology

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161

135

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“…In 2006, under the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program (LCR MSCP), the USGS initiated a 2-year study documenting western yellow-billed cuckoo (C.a. occidentalis) distribution, abundance, and habitat use throughout the LCR MSCP boundary area (Johnson et al 2007). Yellow-billed cuckoos were surveyed at 55 sites within 17 areas.…”

Section: Usgs Lcr Mscp Yellow-billed Cuckoo Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the first year of this research, preliminary analysis of vegetation data (Johnson et al 2007) from yellow-billed cuckoo occupied and unoccupied sites focused on general patterns in the distribution and abundance of woody species. Tamarisk was the most common tree, due to the abundance of small (<8 cm dbh) plants.…”

Section: Usgs Lcr Mscp Yellow-billed Cuckoo Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The MSCP boundary covers areas up to and including the full-pool elevations of Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, Lake Havasu, and the historical floodplain of the Colorado River from Lake Mead to the United States-Mexico Southerly International Boundary, a distance of about 644 river km (400 river miles). In order to determine the current yellow-billed cuckoo breeding range within the lower Colorado River Basin, we examined historic detection sites (Gaines 1977, Gaines and Laymon 1984, Halterman and Laymon 1994, 1995Halterman 1998 and our previous survey efforts in (Johnson et al 2006b, and Johnson et al 2007, which included sites along the Gila River near Yuma, Arizona, the Muddy River in Southern Nevada, and Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge in the White Water River drainage, Nevada (Figure 2.1).…”

Section: Survey Location and Selection Of Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Yellow-billed Cuckoo Distribution, Abundance, and Habitat Use Along the Lower Colorado River and Its Tributaries, 2007 Annual Report

Johnson¹,

Durst²,

Calvo³

et al. 2008

Open-File Report

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This 2007 annual report details the second season of a 2-year study documenting western yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus occidentalis) distribution, abundance, and habitat use throughout the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program boundary area. We conducted cuckoo surveys at 40 sites within 14 areas, between 11 June and 9 September 2007. The 169 surveys across all sites yielded 163 yellow-billed cuckoo detections. Cuckoos were detected at 25 of the 40 sites, primarily at the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) study area (n = 139 detections; 85 percent of all detections). Detections declined slightly through the cuckoo breeding season, with most detections occurring in the first and second survey periods (n = 92; 54 percent). We detected breeding activity only at the Bill Williams River NWR, where we confirmed 27 breeding events, including two nesting observations. However, the breeding status of most detected birds was unknown. We used playback broadcast recordings to survey for yellow-billed cuckoos. Compared to simple point counts or surveys, this method increases the number of detections of this secretive, elusive species. It has long been suspected that cuckoos have a fairly low response rate, and that the standard survey method of using broadcast recordings might fail to detect all birds present in an area. In 2007, we found that the majority (84 percent) of cuckoo detections were solicited through broadcast at all study sites. The number of solicited detections was highest during the first survey period and declined as the breeding season progressed, while the number of unsolicited detections (cuckoos heard calling before broadcast was initiated) remained fairly constant through the first, second, and third survey periods. The majority (66 percent) of cuckoo detections, solicited or unsolicited, were aural, 23 percent were both heard and seen, and 11 percent were visual detections only. We also found that 50 percent of all responses by cuckoos were evenly split between the first and second broadcasts at sites with >10 detections, while 45 percent of responses occurred after a single broadcast at the sites with <10 detections. We refined our collection of vegetation data in 2007 and found that across the entire study area the dominant tree species were tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), willow (Salix

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“…These ecosystems provide lotic and lentic habitats for aquatic organisms (Jackson and Fisher, 1986;Lytle and White, 2007) and the water, food, shelter and other resources required by a large array of riparian-dependent species, including neotropical migratory birds (e.g. Johnson et al, 2008). Many riverine woodland habitats in the desert southwest have been lost or degraded as a result of land use changes, water resources development, and expansion of non-native species (Graf et al, 2002; but see also Webb and Leake 2006;Webb et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beaver dams, hydrological thresholds, and controlled floods as a management tool in a desert riverine ecosystem, Bill Williams River, Arizona

Andersen

Shafroth

2010

Ecohydrology

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Beaver convert lotic stream habitat to lentic through dam construction, and the process is reversed when a flood or other event causes dam failure. We investigated both processes on a regulated Sonoran Desert stream, using the criterion that average current velocity is <0Ð2 m s 1 in a lentic reach. We estimated temporal change in the lotic : lentic stream length ratio by relating beaver pond length (determined by the upstream lentic-lotic boundary position) to dam size, and coupling that to the dam-size frequency distribution and repeated censuses of dams along the 58-km river. The ratio fell from 19 : 1 when no beaver dams were present to <3 : 1 after 7 years of flows favourable for beaver. We investigated the dam failure-flood intensity relationship in three independent trials (experimental floods) featuring peak discharge ranging from 37 to 65 m 3 s 1 . Major damage (breach ½3-m wide) occurred at ½20% of monitored dams (n D 7-86) and a similar or higher proportion was moderately damaged. We detected neither a relationship between dam size and damage level nor a flood discharge threshold for initiating major damage. Dam constituent materials appeared to control the probability of major damage at low (attenuated) flood magnitude. We conclude that environmental flows prescribed to sustain desert riparian forest will also reduce beaver-created lentic habitat in a non-linear manner determined by both beaver dam and flood attributes. Consideration of both desirable and undesirable consequences of ecological engineering by beaver is important when optimizing environmental flows to meet ecological and socioeconomic goals. Published in

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Yellow-Billed Cuckoo Distribution, Abundance, and Habitat Use Along the Lower Colorado and Tributaries, 2006 Annual Report

Cited by 4 publications

References 43 publications

Tamarix as Habitat for Birds: Implications for Riparian Restoration in the Southwestern United States

Tamarix as Habitat for Birds: Implications for Riparian Restoration in the Southwestern United States

Yellow-billed Cuckoo Distribution, Abundance, and Habitat Use Along the Lower Colorado River and Its Tributaries, 2007 Annual Report

Beaver dams, hydrological thresholds, and controlled floods as a management tool in a desert riverine ecosystem, Bill Williams River, Arizona

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