![]() ![]() ![]() “I don’t think anyone does.This study examines the changes in Cascade Mountain spring snowpack since 1930. “I don’t know the answer to that question,” he said. “But where can they go when their breeding grounds are covered in white snow?” “In normal years, sage grouse use their coloring to hide in sage and tall grass,” Burnett said. Now, they worry that the rare birds are unusually easy prey for hungry golden eagles and coyotes because their breeding grounds are still blanketed in bright white piles of snow. Only five months ago, biologists were struggling to determine how much water was needed to sustain the birds in an era of less snowpack, shorter rainy seasons and periods of prolonged drought. “I’m worried these beautiful dancing birds may not be able to dig deep enough to reach sagebrush, their primary food source.” “The bi-state sage grouse is having a tough year because of the epic snow on its habitat,” she said. “The service’s announcement is a step in the right direction,” said Ileene Anderson, a biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. Two years later, however, the Trump administration withdrew that proposal. In 2018, a federal court judge ordered the agency to re-evaluate the species’ situation. The birds were proposed for listing in 2013, but federal wildlife authorities abandoned the proposal two years later. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday approved reopening consideration of whether to list the bi-state sage grouse as endangered or threatened. There are only about 3,300 of the birds left - far fewer than the 5,000 that biologists say is required to sustain the population. “After heavy rains and flooding in 1983, the lake stratified into hard layers,” Burnett said, “that took a few years to break up.”Ī more pressing concern is the fate of the dwindling population of bi-state sage grouse, one of the most legally contested birds in America. The potential bad news, however, is that the inflows could cause the lake’s water column to begin stratifying into a warmer, lighter upper layer, above a colder, lower layer, limiting the productivity of brine flies and shrimp that migrating birds feed on. Separately, there is good news for the more than 40,000 California gulls that nest on islands in Mono Lake, east of Yosemite National Park: They will be less vulnerable to predators including coyotes because melting snow is expected to raise the surface level of the lake several feet by year’s end. The results are expected to become available later this year. This year, those birds will fulfill their life cycles in Central California rivers and lakes brimming with snowmelt, as well as in the vast flooded fields of rice farmers who are once again receiving 100% of their state water allocations.Īerial surveys of booming waterfowl populations across the state are currently being conducted by California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists. “Many of our ducks decided to search for better places to nest in Oregon and northern Idaho.” “A year ago, the local population of mallard ducks was down 25% due to drought,” Coslovich said. Plans to build a solar energy farm in the Mojave Desert have angered conservationists who, say it will restrict movement of bighorn sheep. Climate & Environment Can bighorns, a bullet train and a huge solar farm coexist in the Mojave Desert? ![]()
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