The least Bell's vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) is a small, grey bird listed on the Federal Endangered Species List. Once common in riparian habitats, by 1987 the number of breeding pairs of least Bell's Vireo has declined to only 300. The vireo is facing threats from two main sources: the degredation of the riparian habitats vireo's call home, and increasing populations of parasitic cowbirds.

The Brown-headed cowbird is a brood parasite of the vireo. A brood parasite lays eggs in other birds' nests. The hatchlings of the cowbird hatch earlier, and are larger and more aggressive than vireo hatchlings. Thus, the parent vireo spends most of it's time feeding the parasite and less food is available for its own offspring. When cowbirds are present, vireo nests rarely produce fledged young.   Brown-headed Cowbirds were originally associated with Bison on the Great Plains, feeding on insects associated with the grazing animals. With the introduction of wide-spread agriculture in the United States, cowbirds came to associate themselves with grazing cattle. This has allowed the numbers of cowbirds to explode, and the range of cowbird habitat to expand greatly. The destruction and fragmentation of riparian habitat, and the movement of agriculture into close proximity with riparian areas has allowed the cowbird to access riparian and woodland species that were previously unparasitized by cowbirds.

The Santa Ana Sucker (Catostomus santaanae) is a fish that was common in streams of the Santa Ana Watershed and other rivers of Southern California as recently as the 1970's. It is now rarely found in the Santa Ana and San Gabriel Rivers, and has all but disappeared from other areas where it was once common. Because of the marked decline in the numbers of these fish, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently listed the Santa Ana Sucker as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.  Contact us if you'd like an informational brochure.

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