Bird Surveys
Shorebird Surveys
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation awarded a grant to the National Audubon Society (NAS) for its Saline Lakes Program on a project aimed at conserving shorebirds and their important habitat within the Lahontan Valley. NAS, Northwest NV Bird Alliance (NNBA) , along with Manomet, are working closely with the Nevada Department of Wildlife and US Fish & Wildlife Service to identify habitat use and needs for 11 priority shorebird species; examine the habitat management units at Carson Lake and Stillwater in order to identify impediments to and opportunities for improving shorebird management; and improve capacity for monitoring shorebird populations.
Inland sites in the Intermountain West are oases for our migratory shorebirds. Our collective efforts will document changes to freshwater wetlands and saline lakes over the past 30 years by recreating the last comprehensive shorebird survey of the region done in 1989-1995. By combining the efforts of professional and volunteer scientists, we will collect critical information to help sustain shorebird populations into the future.
Shorebird Survey Volunteers Photo: Dennis Ghiglieri
The Intermountain West Shorebird Survey project objectives are:
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Describe the distribution and abundance of shorebirds during migration by counting all shorebirds at 189 sites during the spring and fall migrations for 3-5 years.
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Compare the current distribution and abundance of shorebirds with distributions from 1989-1995.
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Inform future management decisions by identifying local and regional factors that influenced the abundance and distribution of shorebirds.
NNBA volunteers have been conducting surveys since 2022 during peak migration in the spring and fall throughout the Lahontan Valley Wetlands. By utilizing volunteers, we are able to survey the full area at the same time allowing for a better count of the total number of individual shorebirds that are using this vital area.
Pinyon Jay Photo: Jeff Bleam
Pinyon Jay Surveys
Did you know that Pinyon Jay populations have declined 80% since the 1960s? Here is your opportunity to help scientists understand why this species is in decline and how we can help to conserve them. Northwest NV Bird Alliance (NNBA) is partnering with the Great Basin Bird Observatory (GBBO) to recruit community members to conduct Pinyon Jay surveys. No experience is necessary and birders of all levels are welcome. This is a great opportunity to learn about a local species and support conservation efforts. Surveys require a smartphone app or a handheld GPS. Throughout the year, we will post field trip or meetup opportunities to look for and learn about Pinyon Jays. A Western Nevada College class conducted this Pinyon Jay Habitat Study highlighting research, habitat challenges, and community involvement across the region.
The Mystery of the Pinyon Jay
by Alan de Queiros
Excerpted article from the Reno News and Review, February 29, 2024
In the spring of 2020, I started going for hikes on a part of Peavine Mountain I had hardly ever visited before, just above the Northgate neighborhood in northwest Reno. ... I’ve become attached to the landscape—the shrubby slopes, the scattered outcrops, the pines silhouetted against strange white and orange soils—but mostly, I go there because it’s a great place to find pinyon jays. These birds look like small blue crows and, unlike other jays, usually move around in flocks. I go to follow the jays and, if I’m lucky, to sit in the middle of a flock, experiencing the strange spectacle of these noisy, gregarious birds. “They’re all picking through crevices in the bark for caches (of pine nuts) or probing the ground for caches, and there’s one watching (as a sentry), and they’re rotating through these duties … and it’s really cool to be that close to so many birds,” says Ned Bohman, from the Great Basin Bird Observatory.
Every spring, hundreds of birdwatchers drive along predetermined 24.5-mile routes all over the U.S. and in parts of Canada, stopping each half-mile to count every bird they see or hear, making a total of 50 counting points per route. ...The most recent BBS report, covering 1966 through 2022, estimated that the overall number of pinyon jays fell by some 70 percent in that time. ...BBS reports, based on the efforts of thousands of community scientists, were a big part of what put pinyon jays on the radar of conservationists and agency land managers. And, according to John Boone and Ned Bohman (GBBO), community scientists will also be a vital part of the next step in the conservation of this species.“It takes all of us working on this,” said Rose Strickland, the conservation chair for the Lahontan Audubon Society. “Problems are too pervasive; everything is connected, and so we need to be more connected in the way that we approach preserving biodiversity instead of just drawing lines on a map (around protected areas). … It really takes a village.”
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Waterbird Identification Part II: Shorebirds
The Art of Identifying Shorebirds
