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AG Today

Ag Today April 24, 2018

California Protects Tricolored Blackbird As A Threatened Species, Fewer Than 200,000 Remain

Ezra David Romero, Capital Public Radio
Monday, April 23, 2018 | Sacramento, CA

Tricolored Blackbird populations have dropped 55 percent over the past decade, leading the state of California to list the bird as threatened last week.

Male Tricolored Blackbirds have a red spot and a white bar on their wings. They mostly call California home.

“Tricolored Blackbirds are really California’s blackbird,” said Samantha Arthur with Audubon California.

She applauds the California Fish and Game Commission’s recent decision to list Tricolored Blackbirds as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act. In the 1930s there were millions of the birds in the state. Today there are fewer than 178,000.

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