GBBO needs additional volunteers to spend a day in a boat on Pyramid Lake between early April and mid June, 2009. Besides enjoying a day on the beautiful desert lake, our volunteers will get a chance to see thousands of birds around Anaho Island and will help us get a good count of colonial waterbirds of the lake for a regional inventory in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the American Bird Conservancy. Please contact us (ammon AT gbbo.org) if you can spare a week day this spring!

GBBO seeks the help of the birding public in locating nesting colonies throughout Nevada of the following birds in 2009 (look for nesting evidence between April and July):

Island nesters:
American White Pelican (other than Pyramid Lake)
Double-crested Cormorant
Caspian Tern
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull

Marsh nesters:

Brood locations (nests very delicate and should not be disturbed):
Western Grebe
Clark’s Grebe
Eared Grebe

Colony locations:
Black Tern
Forster’s Tern
White-faced Ibis
Franklin’s Gull

Tree nesters:
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Cattle Egret

Please submit location (preferably with GPS coordinates, otherwise township/range/section), number of active nests/broods, date observed, and your name by email (ammon AT gbbo.org) or phone (775-323-4226) as soon as possible after your birding trip.

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Telemetry assistance in our Pinyon Jay and sage-grouse research project will be needed throughout 2008 and part of 2009. In particular, we are looking for physically fit individuals, who are willing to drive to remote areas and hike significant distances cross-country to track individual birds. GPS knowledge is a must. Training for radio transmitter work will be provided. Stipends and travel support are available. If you are interested in helping, please email Jen Ballard (Ballard@gbbo.org)

Data entry and other office tasks are a year-round opportunity for GBBO volunteers to get involved. We always have things to do for nice people with computer skills (MS Excel for data entry; similar tasks depending on computer experience) or an interest in library work, or who want to help with outreach materials or other organizational tasks around the office. Much of this type of volunteer work can also be done from home. If you are interested in helping, please email Jen Ballard (Ballard@gbbo.org).

To track down some of the rarer breeding birds of Nevada, we would like to recruit the assistance of birders. Specifically, we are looking for additional locations of several species:  Le Conte’s Thrasher, Bendire’s Thrasher, and Summer Tanager. If you come across any of these species in Nevada in the spring and early summer, please let us know (contact Jen Ballard, ballard @ gbbo.org, 775-770-4220). Along with the location (UTMs from GPS units preferred but not required), please include the date, observers, and how many of the species were seen. Thank you! 

In collaboration with the Important Bird Areas program of Audubon, we would like to work together to get better information on two Important Bird Areas, Swan Lake (north of Reno) and Washoe Lake (north of Carson City). Specifically, we would like to find two to four volunteers, who are willing to visit one of these sites once a month for a full count of the birds on the lake and on its shorelines. Both sites are small enough that a full count can be done in one day. The results of the counts can be easily entered online at our “Aquatic Bird Count data entry” page (www.gbbo.org: Programs: Aquatic Bird Count). The data can then also be viewed interactively on the data query page. Please email Jen Ballard (ballard @ gbbo.org) if you are willing to volunteer.