Cerulean Warbler: A Songbird At Risk
Wildlife agency fails to protect disappearing Cerulean Warbler under the Endangered Species Act
©Ann and Rob Simpson
Once common in the east, the Cerulean Warbler has declined more than 80% in four decades.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - after a six year delay in responding to the Southern Environmental Law Center's petition - has declined to list the Cerulean Warbler as a threatened species. The decision, issued December 5 2006, further imperils the songbird, whose numbers have dropped more than 80% in 40 years.
The decision leaves the songbird vulnerable to further destruction of its breeding habitat throughout its 23-state range, but especially in the large tracts of unbroken, native forests in the northern Cumberland Plateau and the Ohio Hills.
SELC filed a citizens petition with the agency in 2000 seeking to list the Cerulean as a threatened species. There are fewer than 20% of the songbirds today than in the 1960s. The petition was filed on behalf of 28 conservation groups across the East - including the National Audubon Society, and supported by several renowned ornithologists.
The Fish and Wildlife Service failed repeatedly to meet federally mandated deadlines under the Endangered Species Act for responding to the petition. In the intervening years, scientists believe the bird's annual rate of decline increased from 4% to 6%, and threats to its habitat have worsened. SELC filed suit in February to compel the agency to render a decision.
©SELC
Mountaintop removal - a form of surface coal mining - devastates forests that are prime Cerulean habitat.
The Cerulean population has dropped almost 82% throughout its U.S. range over the last 40 years, making it the fastest declining warbler in the country. Known for its bright blue plumage and distinctive song, the Cerulean breeds in the summer in eastern forests and migrates to South America for winter. Once common, it has grown increasingly rare as forest habitat in both hemispheres has been destroyed and fragmented by logging, surface mining and development. In the U.S., the worst of the Cerulean's decline has been in the core of its range - 80% in the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia, and 65% in the Ohio Hills in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The songbird nests in the interior of contiguous forest tracts and need large areas of mature, undisturbed forest to reproduce successfully. The loss and fragmentation of these forests to mining, including mountain top mining, logging, agricultural clearing, sprawl and other development are likely causes of the species' dramatic decline.
If the the Cerulean Warbler were listed as a threatened species, the Fish and Wildlife Service would be required to develop a recovery plan for the bird, ensuring coordination among land-use agencies to protect Cerulean habitat. The agency would also be required to ensure that federal actions would not drive the species closer to extinction or impede its eventual recovery.
In addition to the National Audubon Society, SELC represented Defenders of Wildlife, Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, Western North Carolina Alliance and Heartwood in the lawsuit.
