Nesting Tricolored Blackbird Survey: Baja California 2007

This report summarizes a field survey of 44 known and potential tricolored blackbird colony locations conducted by Richard A. Erickson, LSA Associates, Horacio de la Cueva, Biologia de la Conservacion, and Mark J. Billings, LSA Associates, in northern Baja California, Mexico from January through August, 2007. Breeding was confirmed at only one of the sites surveyed. Extreme drought conditions were observed in this region during the survey interval and are believed responsible for depressing prey abundance and resulting in poor reproductive performance in most terrestrial bird species, including the tricolor.