George P. Bush calls for de-listing of endangered Texas songbird

A golden-cheeked warbler perches in a madrone tree on the Los Madrones ranch in western Travis County, TX. CREDIT: Michael A. Murphy.

A key state policy-maker announced his support Tuesday for a de-listing of an endangered Texas songbird.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush rallied behind an effort by former state comptroller Susan Combs to de-list the endangered golden-cheeked warbler.

The warbler, a small bird with distinctive yellow-and-black markings that was first listed as endangered in 1990, nests in fewer than three dozen counties in Central Texas — and nowhere else in the world. In spring, the birds arrive to raise their young before beginning a late summer migration to Mexico and Central America.

Combs led a trio of groups in petitioning the Fish and Wildlife Service last week to de-list the bird, arguing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s style of estimating species health is outmoded and that more recent data shows the habitat and population of the bird is robust.

Read more: http://politics.blog.statesman.com/2015/07/07/george-p-bush-calls-for-de-listing-of-endangered-texas-songbird/