Tricolored Blackbird
Until recently, some Tricolored Blackbird colonies were estimated to contain one to two million birds. Today the total population is down to about 750,000 due to the draining of marshes. The male Red-winged Blackbird can be told from the male Tricolored Blackbird by its yellowish, not white, border to the red shoulder patch. Females are quite similar but Tricoloreds typically have darker bellies. Other species of blackbirds lack the red shoulder patch of the male and the streaked underparts of the female.

The Tricolored Blackbird gleans food from the ground and low vegetation. Its diet consists of insects, spiders, and occasionally small tadpoles and snails. During the late-summer drought, grasshoppers abound and support the wandering hordes of Tricolored Blackbirds. In winter rice fields and marshes provide food.

The Tricolored Blackbird breeds from southern Oregon southward throughout most of California. It winters from northern California south. It inhabits cattail marshes, marshy meadows and rangelands.
Tricolored Blackbird Range Map

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