The tricolored blackbird, a species whose population has seen a fall in the Central Valley, has become one of the 9 species that the US Fish and Wildlife Service is going to consider listing as endangered.

The decision has led to the start of a process that will result into listing the species as an endangered species at the federal level. This step would give the US government enforcement power to halt landowners from wiping out nests of the birds, which has been identified as one of the reasons for recent declines.

Wildlife officials have cited disappearance of wetlands in the Central Valley as the main factor that has led to decline in populations over many decades.

But, now the birds depend mainly on Central Valley dairy farmers for their survival. The tricolored blackbird colonies are normally found in fields where dairy farmers grow feed for their cows. Dairy farmers harvest the feed every fall, plowing under a number of the nestlings in the process. It is not allowed to destroy bird nests in California but enforcement of such actions is rare.

Since 2011, a 2014 inventory headed by UC Davis, Audubon California, and state and national wildlife agencies have identified a 44% fall in the tricolored blackbird population. In the survey nearly 145,135 tricolored blackbirds were found. An estimated 3 million tricolored blackbirds flew across skies of California in the 1930s.

Lisa Belenky, attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said, “It’s been hard to get agencies to act to protect the species; that’s why this listing is absolutely necessary”. The Center for Biological Diversity is the San Francisco-based organization that has filed a petition to include the tricolored blackbird as a candidate for emergency listing consideration at both the state and federal level.