The Santa Lucia Conservancy (SLC), with technical assistance from Audubon California and UC Davis, is conducting a research project tracking how California’s blackbird, the Tricolored Blackbird, uses one of California’s most prominent and expansive ecosystems, the oak-savanna grasslands. The strategy that the SLC is using to keep track of the birds is a newly developing technology of radio tracking. By placing a small transmitter backpack on the bird, researchers can follow the birds while they move about throughout the day. The transmitter is equivalent to three paper clips in weight and can track the birds for almost three months while they nest on the Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel Valley. If you would like to help us continue these innovative programs, think about making a contribution. Five dollars saves five birds — it’s that simple.

Check-out our photo gallery of the Santa Lucia Conservancy staff applying and testing the transmitters: