Hoping this will be of interest to folks at IBO and possibly a few birders on IBLE?

Western YBCU is a vanishing breed as their habitat gets chewed up.

Their status in Idaho is somewhat “tentative” maybe? And I’m not sure if any of their remaining habitat is protected from development per se……..??

Larry, Boise

From: central_valley_birds@yahoogroups.com [mailto:central_valley_birds@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ron Melcer corvid88@gmail.com [central_valley_birds]
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2018 8:38 PM
To: Holly
Cc: central_valley_birds@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CVBirds] Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yolo County, 20 August 2018

Hi all,

Wonderful find!

Please be sure to submit your field notes and any other documentation (recordings?) to CDFW for a California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) record.. This is super important.

There is a significant amount of planned construction activity and potential for vegetation removal/impacts in the northern portion of the bypass. This has historically (2005/2006) been Cuckoo habitat… and appears to continue to support the species.

The cottonwood willow stands at Fremont, Sacramento Weir, and Cache Creek Settling Basin are of the most significant riparian remnants in the lower Sacramento valley.

Continued documentation of these sensitive species is of utmost importance in the context of near term construction work – and can enable further restoration of these limited resources.

Good birding!

Ron Melcer

Sacramento, CA

On Aug 20, 2018, at 19:45, Holly cranberryjacket@yahoo.com [central_valley_birds] < central_valley_birds-noreply@yahoogroups.com > wrote:

Today, at about 9:30am, we had a Yellow-billed Cuckoo vocalizing at the western entrance gate to Fremont Weir State Wildlife Area (Rd 116A, near 38.7590,-121.6714). The bird started calling from high in a cluster of cottonwoods above our heads, then continued vocalizing as it flew somewhere to the west, upstream along the river. Despite concerted efforts to relocate the bird (with the help of Joan Humphrey, Jason Riggio, and Michael Perrone), we could not again detect the bird during the next 3 hours of searching.

Ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47972007 .

Holly Coates & Emmett Iverson

Davis, CA