PVCC Puma Press: March 2005

After five straight years of drought, the recent surge of rains that brought green back into Arizona’s landscape offers a similar hope of reviving the state’s diminished bird population.

Gamble Quail, Swainson’s thrush and the endangered Willow flycatcher are three of Arizona’s shrinking species.

According to Tice Fupplee, director of bird conservation for the Audubon society, the deterioration of rivers and streams due to drought can bring harsh changes in habitat. She also added that anything that threatens the natural landscape could be tragic for some of the states smaller species.

“That’s why our bird population seems to redirect during times of drought,” Fuplee says. Birds tend to migrate to wetter climates during these times.

Although the drop in numbers hasn’t been pegged to the drought specifically, the Northeast Valley has seen a steady decline in certain species of birds since the first sign of drought five years back, with a noticeable 11 percent decline in just the last year, but according to Troy Corman, nongame avian biologist for the Arizona fish and game department, two more years of substantial rain would be enough to recover from the long dry spell.

“What would be ideal,” Corman says, “is another year like this, even one with a little less rain. One year just isn’t enough to get us back to normal.”

He does add, however, that the signs of recovery are starting to show.

Bird watchers may notice the Numbers of Cactus Wrens and Black Sorted Sparrows rise in desert areas. The numbers in the city haven’t really been affected.

The increased amount of vegetation will bring a significant rise in Quail population, long grass and thick bushes providing safe hiding from predators for the young.

Other desert species will tend to nest earlier, increasing the amount of eggs and offspring.

Drought alone isn’t the only thing keeping population low. The endangered Willow Flycatcher, a bird no bigger than the palm of a hand with a tail that cocks upward, a puffed out chest and brown and black feathers, faces a bleak future in terms of loss of habitat.

The Audubon Society also attributes overgrazing by livestock to the decrease in numbers of flycatchers. Large flood control dams that alter flooding cycles affect the bird’s nesting success, a 2004, Audubon release states, since it is known that Willow Flycatchers will not nest in the absence of flowing water.

According to Fupplee, non-native plants like the Salt Cedar contribute to the loss of habitat for the small birds, the insects attracted to this plant not being part of the bird’s diet.

Non-native plants pose the same problem to the Swainson’s Thrush, a bird also low in population that nests on the Mogollon Rim.