The tricolored blackbird, native almost exclusively to Central California, gained protection under the state’s Endangered Species Act in 2018. Since then, the most at-risk colonies have successfully been protected, thanks in large part to San Joaquin Valley dairies. Sporting distinctive red and white shoulder patches, tricolored blackbirds have a nasal buzzing call that’s sometimes described as cat-like. The tiny birds will spend most of the year in flocks with other blackbird species, then settle during breeding season in the region’s wetlands in “mega-colonies” that number in the tens to hundreds of thousands. Due to drought and human development, however, the tiny birds have been forced to find new breeding habitat and the population has been in decline. “The population remains at or near its smallest size ever recorded,” reads the 2018 Department of Fish and Wildlife report that recommended the bird be protected under the Endangered Species Act . “Coupled with the earlier declines
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