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Thank you to the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida for their year-long grant to monitor and protect Tricolored Herons in Tampa Bay. Tricolored Herons are listed as threatened by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission due to declining populations across the state.

To reduce threats to Tricolored Herons, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ staff, led by Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuary Manager Jeff Liechty, posted signs to reduce human intrusion, deployed game cameras to monitor predator activity, and removed discarded fishing gear that poses an entanglement risk at busy nesting colonies.

Throughout the past year, we have focused efforts on Tricolored Heron's island nesting colonies to boost nesting success. We surveyed colonies to identify Tricolored Heron nesting sites, counted the number of nesting pairs in each colony, and recorded their success raising chicks.

Using the new data, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ will continue to work to not only protect nesting areas, but also conserve and restore critical foraging sites. Tricolored Herons nested at 37 sites in the greater Tampa Bay region.