Lahontan Wetlands Shorebird Surveys

Each year, volunteers from our chapter assist Federal and State Biologists with seasonal counts of the shorebirds migrating through the Lahontan Wetland complex, which includes Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, Carson Lakes, Soda Lakes, local reservoirs and the wetlands on the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribal Lands. These wetlands are a designated area of hemispheric importance for shorebird migration (part of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network).  Our desert terminal waters are extremely important resources for migrating birds, but because water is a scarce resource in our arid Great Basin landscape, balancing water management for birds and wildlife each year is not an easy task. Our volunteers help our refuges and wildlife management areas by providing bird counts and important data that can track the trends of our migrating shorebirds. This not only gives a snapshot of the health of the shorebird populations migrating through our state, but it informs the refuge managers about habitat needs. We help count the shorebirds on 3 days in spring and fall, as set by the refuge biologists. Our spring 2026 surveys are mostly full and we do not currently need more volunteers, but if you are interested in this program and would like to get notified for our fall shorebird count season, please email us at contact@nevadaaudubon.org and we will get you on the sign up list for the next round of counts! Photo: Kenneth Johnston