Underestimated Fatalities of a Cryptic Avian Species of Conservation Concern at Wind Energy Facilities in California, USA.

ABSTRACT: Accurate information underpins successful ecological science and management. Cryptic species, those that are difficult to differentiate, pose challenges to reliable collection of taxon-specific information. Blackbirds, including tricolored blackbirds (Agelaius tricolor), a cryptic species of high conservation concern, and red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), an abundant congener, are sometimes killed by wind turbines. We used publicly available survey records to evaluate rates at which blackbirds were reported dead at wind energy facilities in California, USA. We then used genetic species identification of carcasses found to estimate true rates of discovery and of misidentification. Of 329 blackbird fatalities in survey records, most were identified as red-winged (

SUBMITTER: Katzner TE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12834644 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature