Date: 4/22/25 8:41 am From: Peter Schneekloth via groups.io <peterschneekloth...> Subject: [sbcobirding] Statewide Tricolored Blackbird Survey - SB County Recap
A short recap on Tricolored Blackbird survey efforts in the County. The survey period was this past weekend April 18 - 20. Only two breeding colonies were found one at Sedgwick Reserve and one at Caliente Wetlands with an estimated 125 and 350 birds respectively. An additional 45 foraging birds were found at the dairy in Cuyama and 2 birds at a small ag pond in Cuyama Valley. Not a resounding number but still better than last survey period.
An additional 15 birds were found by John Deacon near Casmalia 10 days prior to survey and 5 birds were found by Mark Holmgren between Lompoc and Buellton a day after the survey period. These seem to indicate there are more birds and possibly breeding colonies out there but finding and getting to them can be difficult.
I had a ton of support this survey cycle with folks surveying, scouting or just providing info on presence/absence of birds in hard-to-reach areas. So thanks to the following: Laura Baldwin, Tim Matthews, Mike Thomas, John Deacon, Mark Holmgren, Peter Gaede, Julian Gaede, John Storrer, Ryanne Bee, Daniel Farrar, Florence Sanchez. Apologies if I missed anyone.
I will probably get an update on statewide results at some point, I will update here when I have that info.
