The Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee have each featured a story on Tricolored Blackbirds, the Times on June 20th and the Bee on June 21st, 2013. Both stories summarize the results of the work of the many participants in the 2008 and 2011 Statewide Surveys and highlight the continuing rapid decline in abundance of the species throughout California. Due to chronic low reproductive success since 2007 and a variety of other factors, the number of tricolors has been falling rapidly and the 2014 Statewide Survey will be an essential barometer of the species' health.