In response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that the tricolored blackbird (Agelaius tricolor) may qualify for federal Endangered Species Act protection. The Center petitioned to protect tricolored blackbirds under both the federal and California Endangered Species Acts after dramatic declines of nesting colonies due to loss of wetlands and native grasslands, shooting, pesticide use and mass destruction of nests through mowing and harvest of crops the birds use for nesting in California. “Tricolored blackbirds once formed massive nesting colonies of millions of birds in California’s Central Valley but are now suffering declines comparable to the extinction trajectory of the passenger pigeon,” said the Center’s Jeff Miller. “Endangered Species Act protection is needed to safeguard their vulnerable breeding colonies, especially since the state of California has inexplicably delayed protection for tricoloreds despite warnings by biologists that we could lose this species entirely.” Comprehensive statewide surveys found only 395,000 tricolored blackbirds in 2008, followed by a decline to 259,000 in 2011 and only 145,000 in 2014 — the smallest population ever recorded.
Source: Center for Biological Diversity, September 17, 2015
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/tricolored-…
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