Petrified Forest National Park says researchers have observed two threatened Yellow-billed Cuckoos in the park for the first time in more than 40 years.
Park officials say they haven’t seen breeding pairs of the cuckoos in the park since the 1980s.
According to park spokesperson Sarah Herve, U.S. Fish and Wildlife researchers reported hearing two of the birds during surveys near the Puerco River last year. Researchers will often play bird calls and prompt birds to respond to them.
The birds were heard again this year, and a park volunteer was able to see a Cuckoo.
Herve says park biologists were excited when park volunteer Anita Allen, a retired biologist, snapped a photo of one of the cuckoos. She hid in a bird blind for many hours before spotting the bird and taking a photo.
Yellow-billed Cuckoos live at low elevations in Cottonwood-willow forests that line rivers across the western United States, Canada and Mexico.
But their population has steadily declined and they were listed as threatened in 2014.
Park officials say they’re planning more surveys for the birds, and additional restoration projects along the river should increase habitat within the park.
