Petition urges listing of Wilson’s Phalaropes

[Laura Bies]

The Center for Biological Diversity and other partners have petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Wilson’s Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Wilson’s Phalarope is a shorebird that breeds in interior North America and migrates to South America for the winter. According to the petition, “It is facing the imminent threat of becoming an endangered species due to the ecological collapse and desiccation of saline lakes in the Great Basin, a critical link in its migratory journey.”

The worldwide population of Wilson’s Phalaropes was estimated at 1.5 million in the 1980’s. Various sources cited in the petition indicate that there has been a significant decline since then,  around 75%. While Wilson’s phalarope was included by the USFWS in the 2002 Birds of Conservation Concern, due to widely reported declines, it has not been included in more recent BCC reports.

The USFWS now has 90 days to respond to the petition.

Read the press release from the Center for Biological Diversity here.

Read the petition submitted to the USFWS here.

 

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