Tricoloured blackbird  (Agelaius tricolor)

Range

A North American species, over 95 percent of the tricoloured blackbird’s global population is found in California, with the remainder found in Oregon, west Nevada, Washington, and extreme north-west Baja California (2). In California, the population is divided into two main regions, a southern California population, found south of the Tehachapi Mountains, and a Central Valley population (4).

View a distribution map for this species at UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Habitat

Historically, the tricoloured blackbird bred in lowland freshwater marshes. Today, as much of this species’ wetland habitat has been converted for agriculture, it can more commonly be found nesting in grain silage, as well as in thickets of the non-native Himalyan blackberry (Rubus discolor) in upland regions (3).

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