Bendire's thrasher.
The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Bendire’s thrasher, a songbird that’s native to the arid lands of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, under the Endangered Species Act.
The conservation group states that the songbird has lost nearly 90% of its population in the U.S. due to land degradation and unchecked sprawl or development.
Krista Kemppinen, a senior scientist with the Center, said that the bird’s declining population has been a concern for the past decade.
“The population now is so small that there is a high concern about the ability of the species to persist into the future without intervention,” Kemppinen said.
Arizona has about half of the global population of thrashers, however the Southwest’s rapid growth threatens the species' territory.
“Those cities historically have grown outward, encroaching into desert habitat,” Kemppinen said.
Environmentalists have also raised concerns that the proposed Interstate 11, a 280-mile highway between Nogales and Wickenburg, Arizona, which would potentially pave through areas where thrasher populations live.
Climate change is another growing threat.
“Bendire’s thrashers is living at the edge of its thermal tolerance, so it may have limited ability to adapt to increases in temperature. :10
As a consequence, the species could suffer from dehydration and hyperthermia and reduced fertility due to hotter and drier climates.
“Birds are also excellent indicators of the health of ecosystems in which they live, so the decline of the Bendire’s thrasher population may signal high levels of degradation and declines in other species,” Kemppinen said.
The Center has requested that the Service designates a critical habitat that includes all of the existing habitat and potential areas for recovery.
The agency will have 90 days to make an initial finding on whether or not the petition presents substantial information that listing may be warranted.
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