Proposed Threatened Status for the Western Distinct Population Segment of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus); Proposed Rule

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the yellow-billed cuckoo in the western portions of the United States, Canada, and Mexico (western yellow-billed cuckoo) as a threatened distinct vertebrate population segment under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would extend the Act's protections to the western yellow- billed cuckoo. The effect of this regulation would be to add the western yellow-billed cuckoo to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife under the Act.