Six farmers from the Golden State, with help from conservationists at USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Audubon California, have resulted in saving more than 65,000 rare tricoloredblackbirds. The farmers, from Tulare and Kern County, are members of Western United Dairymen (WUD).

“This shows our members’ commitment to a sustainable ecosystem on and around their farms,” said Paul Sousa, environmental director for WUD. “This voluntary program benefits all parties as conservation is achieved in a way that allows farms to continue to be productive.”

More than 40 percent of tricolored blackbirds choose to nest in Central Valley silage fields that resemble the marshland the birds traditionally inhabited, according to the groups. One Tulare farm had more than 30,000 tricolored birds.

No one knows for sure where the birds will decide to nest in a given year, biologists from NRCS and Audubon say. When they choose farmers’ fields, it can mean headaches for the farmers.

They can help the birds by delaying harvesting until young birds can fly away. This delays summer planting, however, and can disrupt the equipment and labor schedules that farmers have negotiated in advance. It also can result in a loss of quality to the silage fields hosting the birds.

NRCS and Audubon work with farmers to minimize disruptions to farming operations, and NRCS offers payments through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to compensate farmers for the resulting drop in the quality of grain.

The conservation organizations are working toward a long-term plan that would eventually provide alternative nesting sites to the tricolored blackbirds that would be preferable to farmers’ fields.

The species, now federally listed as a Bird of Conservation Concern, a California State Species of Special Concern and protected under the provisions of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, all successfully fledged by the end of May. PD

—From Western United Dairymen news release

PHOTO
Photo courtesy of Audubon California.