Hi All,

I had answered Wayne's question about tricolors and nest sites. Here a
paste of that message.

Wayne,

It has been my experience and working with these birds in Calif. that it is
the forging area that drives these birds to nest where they do not the other
way around. For years we attempted to reproduce "that perfect tricolored
breeding habitat" and failed and were successful at the same location. It
was not until the birds started using, and they still do, agricultural crops
as nesting areas they we noticed the activity where they were feeding. They
were using what I would describe as several years fallow cattle grazing
ground. These areas would have a boom of large insects such a locust or
grasshoppers. That is what they wanted.

Now to answer your question. Yes a nesting colony was found and indeed
found at the Texas Lake area in Whitman Co. It was on private land and is
what I would have called good breeding habitat. Nice small wetland in a
larger complex. We had been noticing forging behavior in the area for a few
years before finding the nest colony. It was easy finding them because of
the forging behavior I was use to seeing in Calif. By the way I tried to
find the breeding colony at Wilson Creek in 1999 and could not and never
noticed what I call forging behavior. I did see one bird that year.

Good Birding

Bob Flores
Othello, WA
rflores at nctv.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne C. Weber" <contopus at telus.net>
To: "INLAND NW BIRDERS" <inland-nw-birders at uidaho.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 11:24 PM
Subject: [inland-NW-birders]Tricolored Blackbirds-- anybody know a breeding
locality?


> Tweeters & Inland Birders,
>
> In 1998, the first breeding colony of Tricolored Blackbirds in WA was
> discovered-- I believe it was by David Beaudette-- near Wilson Creek,
> east of Soap Lake in Grant County. Although small numbers nested there
> for several years, it now looks like this breeding site has been
> abandoned. (This species is known for frequently moving its breeding
> colonies, depending on marsh habitat conditions.) In fact, does
> anyone know for sure whether the species nested successfully at
> Wilson Creek in 2004 or 2005?
>
> Tricoloreds have been reported at various times from quite a few
> Eastern Washington localities, including at least Adams, Lincoln,
> Klickitat, Walla Walla, Whitman, and Spokane Counties as well as
> Grant County. However, if they no longer breed near Wilson Creek,
> finding them in Washington could be almost a total crapshoot for
> birders. Does anyone know another probable or possible breeding
> locality? If not, let's keep a sharp lookout for one. The geographic
> distribution of this species can change rapidly (as it has done in
> Oregon), and providing up-to-date birdfinding information may be a
> challenging proposition.
>
> Wayne C. Weber
> Delta, BC
> contopus at telus.net
>
>
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