ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Not listed

PETITIONED: 2004

RANGE: Primarily California’s Central Valley; also found in Riverside, Colusa, San Diego, Siskiyou, and Alameda counties; has been reported in Oregon and Baja California with rare sightings in Nevada and Washington

THREATS: Destruction of habitat due to agriculture, urban development, and wetland draining; predation; competition with other species; and possibly direct removal of birds from private property

POPULATION TREND: The population of tricolored blackbirds in the Central Valley declined by at least 50 percent between the 1930s and early 1970s, and an additional decline of about 56 percent of the remaining population was reported from 1994 to 2000. Population censuses indicate that the tricolor declined from an estimated 370,000 in 1994 to 240,000 in 1997 and 162,000 in 2000.