Today’s announcement from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that it will deny Endangered Species Act protections to the Mountain Plover will put even more pressure on this rapidly declining shorebird, according to officials with Audubon California. In its announcement today, the Service said that it based its decision on the available data about the bird’s population. Audubon California representatives noted that every piece of available data shows that the bird’s numbers are declining. “With historical numbers for the Mountain Plover somewhere around 300,000, when the Service points to 20,000 as being a sufficiently healthy population it is no cause for celebration,” said Graham Chisholm, executive director of Audubon California. “It will be important to keep a close watch on the continuing decline of this bird.” (photo by Greg Smith)

The Mountain Plover is a small terrestrial shorebird that inhabits relatively flat lands with very short, sparse vegetation. It breeds in the western Great Plains and Rocky Mountain States. Unlike many shorebirds that winter at coastal locations, Mountain Plovers spend their winters in open habitats of interior California, Arizona, Texas, and Mexico. More than 50 percent of the world’s population of this unique species spends the winter in California, primarily on agricultural lands.

Early results from an Audubon California survey indicate that the Mountain Plover is in steep decline in the Golden State. Volunteers counted bird populations in late January of this year and found about 1,200 birds, half as many as found during a similar count in 2002. Moreover, numbers in California’s Imperial Valley – long considered a stronghold for the Mountain Plover – were also down by more than half from recent surveys in 2007 and 2008.

“Absent the kind of protections that the Mountain Plover would receive from listing under the Endangered Species Act, we will have to work particularly hard to ensure that this iconic species remains a part of the natural legacy of California and the West,” added Chisholm.