Great Basin National Park with Soldiers2Scientists: Round Two!

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by Ned Bohman

This was the second year that Great Basin Bird Observatory joined Soldiers2Scientists (S2S) for their EcoRecon Expedition to Great Basin National Park. Soldiers2Scientists is a nonprofit organization founded in 2013 that connects veterans and active-duty military members with conservation, and outdoor recreation opportunities. Through partnerships with national parks, conservation organizations, and scientists, S2S gives veterans the opportunity to contribute to meaningful research while building connections and continuing their service in a new way.

The Great Basin EcoRecon expedition brings veterans to the park to participate in a variety of ongoing conservation and research projects. S2S has partnered with Great Basin National Park for several years, working alongside park staff and organizations like GBBO to collect data on everything from wildlife and aquatic ecosystems to forests and caves.

For more background on the project and how our partnership got started, check out my post from last year (2025)!

S2S and GBBO surveyors! Photo credit: S2S

Pinyon Jay flock at Strawberry Creek. Photo credit: Ned Bohman

This year, volunteers from the Reno and Carson City birding communities joined us, allowing us to survey a few more plots than we did last year. We collected data from plots near the Lehman Caves Visitor Center, as well as several plots in Snake Creek Canyon.

Late summer typically marks the beginning of pine nut harvest for Pinyon Jays. As pinyon pine cones ripen, the jays collect and cache the seeds, building up food stores that will sustain them through the months ahead. The timing and abundance of cone production can vary considerably from year to year, creating a cycle of abundance and scarcity that shapes the lives of both pinyon pines and Pinyon Jays.

In years when pinyon pines produce abundant cone crops, known as mast years, Pinyon Jays have access to the resources they need to build food caches, survive the winter, and reproduce. When cone crops fail, however, the jays may have to travel much farther in search of alternative food sources. These movements can sometimes bring them into areas where they aren't typically observed.

Before we even began our surveys on day one, it was clear that this was not going to be a year of abundant pinyon nuts. As I made my way around camp, I couldn't find a single ripe cone. By this point in the season, the cones should be ripe or very close to it. Instead, most of the trees were barren. On some, we found small numbers of clearly aborted cones, while others held only brown, opened cones left over from previous years.

Example of mature cones sparkling with resin. This is what Pinyon Jays are looking for!

Example of aborted cones. These cones stopped growing before they could produce viable seeds.

Example of an old cone. These can remain on the tree from previous years and no longer contain seeds.

I had also made several stops along the Highway 50 corridor on my drive to the park and was similarly unable to find any fresh cones. As the other volunteers arrived, they echoed what I had seen. There was little evidence of this year's pine nut crop anywhere we looked.

With the jays' primary food resource for this time of year seemingly absent, we wondered what the birds would be doing instead…

Observing Pinyon Jays foraging on the valley floor. Photo credit: S2S

The jays we observed were mostly moving around in small groups, calling to distant, unseen birds. Our surveys in Snake Creek Canyon took place in closed-canopy woodland at elevations where we would expect Pinyon Jays to be harvesting pine nuts. But, of course, that was not the case this year. We observed birds flying between trees, perching prominently, and calling to other jays flying nearby. It is possible that they were searching for food and communicating their observations to other members of the flock, although we cannot know for certain from these observations alone. We saw very similar behavior at our survey sites near the visitor center, which were slightly lower in elevation than the Snake Creek Canyon sites.

We did eventually catch up with a group of Pinyon Jays on the valley floor a few miles east of Snake Creek Canyon. There, the birds appeared to be hunting insects as a group. Members of the flock flew low over the shrubs, while others swooped down to the ground, chasing and grabbing prey with their bills. The entire flock seemed to move almost like a wave, rolling across the tops of the shrubs as birds dropped down to forage and then took flight again.

Almost as quickly as they appeared, they were gone. We had simply happened to intersect their path, and it was clear that the flock was covering considerable ground. The behavior we observed offers a fascinating glimpse into how Pinyon Jays may adjust their movements and foraging strategies when their usual food resources are unavailable.

Pinyon Jay observations at Strawberry Creek. Photo credit: Ned Bohman

Although we saw no evidence of pine nut production this year, our time in the field still resulted in meaningful observations. Documenting the lack of ripe pine cones, for example, gives us important context for understanding what Pinyon Jays are doing on the landscape and how food availability may influence their behavior. A key strength of our community science protocol is its ability to help us identify relationships between habitat conditions and Pinyon Jay behavior. Collectively, these observations can help us better understand Pinyon Jay habitat use and provide valuable information to guide land management and conservation efforts.

A huge thank you to Soldiers2Scientists and all of our GBBO supporters for making this such a fun and memorable weekend!

Learn more about our Pinyon Jay Community Science effort and how you can get involved.

 

Afterburn Campout: Birding with Burning Man (Birding Man?)

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by Ned Bohman

At the beginning of October, Great Basin Bird Observatory was invited to participate in Burning Man’s 2025 Afterburn Campout. This was a historic event at the Hualapai Flats, the site of the 1997 Burning Man event, and one of the few gatherings that has happened there since that time. Hualapai Flat is about 15 miles north of Gerlach, on the Fly Ranch property managed by Burning Man. I spent four days at the event and led two bird walks for the Great Basin Bird Observatory.

The weather certainly made things interesting, but we birded between the raindrops and enjoyed viewing a fresh dusting of snow on the Granite Range after the morning clouds cleared. Despite some of these challenges, the walks were well-received by those who attended. Burning Man’s Fly Ranch property is a spectacular oasis within the Great Basin Desert, adjacent to the famous Black Rock Playa. There are several large reservoirs with acres of wetland habitat. Groves of Russian olive, coyote willow, and Fremont cottonwood stipple the property and provide habitat for many species of wintering and migrating songbirds. The scenery is stunning, and those familiar with the area are probably aware of the gaudily-colored, not-quite-natural geyser that is constantly erupting next to a large hot pool.

Fly ranch geyser

Through my bird walks, attendees got to connect with many species of bird, including one very confiding Eared Grebe that appeared to enjoy soaking in the hot springs as much as the humans did. The grebe was enjoying a warm winter retreat and local cuisine—likely including the endemic Fly Ranch Pyrg snail, a species only found in springs at Fly Ranch. Don’t worry, snail populations are monitored, and local snail-ivores don’t seem to be having any negative effects!

There were several other species of water bird using the area, including migratory shorebirds like Red-necked Phalarope, Killdeer, American Avocet, and Western and Least Sandpipers. There were at least 10 species of ducks using various wetlands, including American Wigeon, Cinnamon and Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Redhead, and Lesser Scaup. I saw my first low-elevation Dark-eyed Juncos of the season as well as American Pipits and dozens of White-crowned Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets freshly arrived for the winter. Western Meadowlarks and Bewick’s Wren were still singing, but most of the birds were silent or communicating with chip notes. Large flocks of Brewer’s and Red-winged Blackbirds were moving overhead, and large groups of Black-billed Magpie were forming as well.

Red-necked Phalarope

Everyone who came on the walks enjoyed learning what these birds were doing, and why they were here, now. While looking for sparrows and warblers in the Russian olives was a challenge for some, I was able to point out many songbirds to most participants. Large mammals didn’t disappoint either, a pair of very healthy-looking coyotes was hunting in the same Russian olive grove each morning. A 6-point mule deer buck was also enjoying the shelter of cottonwoods and willows adjacent to Hualapai Flat. Feral horses were fun for participants to see, even though they aren’t necessarily healthy additions to the local ecosystems. All in all, it was a fun weekend, with humans enjoying each other’s company as well as abundant wildlife sharing the oasis.

I want to extend a big thank you to the folks at Burning Man and Fly Ranch for having me along to share bird science with everyone!

Sunrise over Hualapai Flat

Ned’s eBird Trip Report

Individual Checklists:

Monday hot spring soak: https://ebird.org/checklist/S277556287 (So this was an unofficial bird walk, but there were birds! and people loved learning about them!)

Tuesday’s bird walk: https://ebird.org/checklist/S279241881

Saturday’s walk: https://ebird.org/checklist/S277555583

A few other stops on Saturday: https://ebird.org/checklist/S277555511

https://ebird.org/checklist/S277555472

Mule Deer

Afterburn art

Great Basin National Park with Soldiers2Scientists

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In January 2025, I got an email from a fellow from Long Island, NY, asking about Pinyon Jays. You get used to surprises in this field. It turns out that Mike Cohn runs a nonprofit organization that supports veterans like himself after they return from active duty.

Soldiers2Scientists is a non-profit organization founded in 2013 to support veterans seeking engaging outdoor recreation, career advancement, or those struggling with post-deployment transitions. Since that time, they have partnered with many agencies, universities, conservation groups, and other donors to participate in important environmental research.

Every year Soldiers2Scientists journeys to Great Basin National Park to help with various data collection efforts currently underway in the park. On August 8th, I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with them and do some Pinyon Jay surveys. In addition to their group, a few volunteers from Elko and Carson City joined us as well. GBBO is proud to be a partner in these efforts and see the community science program continue to take off.

 

Townsend’s Solitaire at Grey Cliffs campground, Great Basin National Park
Photo by Ned Bohman

When I arrived, the veterans-turned-community scientists were returning from a trek for a trout habitat improvement project. Baker Lake is an alpine lake at approximately 9,000 feet in the Snake Mountains, which is critical breeding habitat for the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout.

On Saturday morning, Mike, Angel, Bethanie, Jackie, Ally, Amy, Jarlath, and Mike all joined me for a bird walk around camp. We did not find Pinyon Jays at camp, but everyone got acquainted with the local avian residents, including a rather confiding Townsend’s Solitaire. We also practiced using Survey123 to collect absence data. While this is not the most exciting data to collect, it is one of the aspects that make GBBO’s Pinyon Jay community science data particularly valuable. When looking for Pinyon Jays, it is often valuable to know where people have spent time looking and not found them.

 

In addition to data collection on the jays, GBBO is also collecting data on pinyon pine productivity. By tracking the primary food source of Pinyon Jays, we hope to better understand the puzzle of their declining populations. On Saturday evening, we followed up on some local intel and tried to find Pinyon Jays again, at a more likely location, but all we heard were very distant calls. However, we did get a chance for everyone to practice their tree and cone-counting skills with GBBO’s Pinyon Productivity Survey123 form!

On Sunday morning, we returned to our cone-counting location and were excited to find several Pinyon Jays apparently gathering grit and gravel from the exact location we visited the previous evening. We all got to enjoy the small flock for several minutes before they were ultimately disturbed by our presence and left the area.

 

Angel and Ned observing Pinyon Jays
Photo by Mike Cohn

 

Learning to count pine cones with Survey123
Photo by Mike Cohn

We then split into groups to survey our designated survey blocks, in hopes of answering some questions: Where did these birds go? What were they up to? Were there more members of a larger flock hiding somewhere? It turned out there were, and Mike, Angel, and I were lucky enough to watch 85 Pinyon Jays flying back and forth over our heads and perching in trees nearby, as we made our way through this flock’s home range. They seemed to be traveling to a distant location but then returning to the general area where we started from, all while potentially keeping tabs on us. It was a great experience for Mike and Angel, who had never seen Pinyon Jays before, and quite a spectacle to see so many birds flying in our midst. We did our best to follow them without disturbing them, which any seasoned Pinyon Jay observer knows is almost impossible. Sure enough, by the time we got to where we thought they were going, they had totally vanished.

We left the area with new knowledge and new questions, as is almost always the case with Pinyon Jays. I think I got the Soldiers2Scientists hooked on the mystery of these birds, and I can’t wait for them to see more when they return for their trip next year. All in all, it was a great weekend. I was so glad to have the opportunity to meet these awesome folks, to show them some of the things I love about this place, all while generating meaningful conservation data.

2025 Spring Bioblitz of Avi Kwa Ame National Monument

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Every year in April, Avi Kwa Ame National Monument celebrates its birthday. In 2024, GBBO raised over $5,000 for Desert Thrasher conservation. In 2025, GBBO used these funds to support a full-on Bioblitz of the National Monument to commemorate its birthday. The event took place from April 25th through 27th and featured guided walks (and drives!) with science experts, presentations from diverse stakeholders, native plant drawing workshops, catered meals, and more! Of course, the focus of the weekend was the quest to document plant and animal species in the monument. By the end of the blitz 71 iNaturalist participants found 372 species of plant and animal!! The bioblitz was a multi-agency collaboration, with input from Friends of Avi Kwa Ame, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Site Stewardship Program, Nevada State Historic Preservation Office, Equinox Gold, Red Rock Audubon, Mystery Ranch, Las Vegas Astronomical Society, and more!

Check out the Friends of Avi Kwa Ame photo gallery for more photos!

 

Sunrise at Avi Kwa Ame by Dawn Fletcher

GBBO ThrasherQuesters: Spencer Geisemann, Dawn Fletcher, Lauren Harter, and Ned Bohman (Left to Right)

 

In addition to trying to find as many thrashers as possible, GBBO provided opportunities for volunteers to collect data on thrashers too! It was a ThrasherQuest. LeConte’s and Bendire’s Thrasher are two species of birds that live primarily in the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Avi Kwa Ame is a global hotspot for these rapidly declining birds. Thrashers can be remarkably difficult to find, and therefore to study, which challenges conservation efforts. GBBO has been an active partner in these conservation efforts for many years.

On day one of the Bioblitz, it was 40 degrees at 6:00 AM, and the wind was going steady. This did not bode well for ThrasherQuest. While the desert was extraordinarily quiet, almost spookily devoid of birdsong, our questers did manage to find LeConte’s and Bendire’s Thrashers on the first morning of searching. At the lower elevations, and preferred habitats of thrashers, many shrubs were in a state of dormancy to reduce water loss. Black-throated Sparrows were floating around in groups of 4-6 birds, and other species were few and far between. Desert Thrashers are adapted for life here. Their secrecy conserves energy, and they get all their liquid water from the foods they consume.

My quest for birds also brought me to higher elevations within the monument, and as I approached the foothills of the McCullough Mountains the vegetation began to get noticeably greener. There was a detectable increase in bird activity at these elevations, with migratory flycatchers, sparrows, and warblers actively feeding and replenishing their stores to continue their journeys. The melodious song of a Scott’s Oriole rang from an adjacent Joshua Tree-studded ridgeline. Once I reached the spring I was headed for, I found many more species of migratory songbird. But I could not stay long, and as I descended back to lower elevations the desert once again dried up and the birds seemed to disappear.

 
 

Despite dry conditions forcing birds into secrecy and the weather turning worse on day two, the ThrasherQuest went remarkably well. We found multiple new territories for both LeConte’s and Bendire’s Thrasher, which will serve as research opportunities for GBBO biologists when we return in the future. We even found Curve-billed Thrashers, which are locally very rare, within Nevada this is the only location they can be regularly seen. Over the course of the weekend, many bioblitzers surveyed washes, canyons, nooks, and crannies of the monument and inventoried a stunning number of plant, bird, lichen, reptile, mammal, and invertebrate species. Happy Birthday, Avi Kwa Ame!

-Ned Bohman

Winter Finch Finding in Reno

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Purple Finches began showing up in the Reno area around the same time as I did, the winter of 2016. Since I have been living in Reno, the species has been on my radar. However, that has not always been the case for Nevada birders. Prior to 2016, there were fewer than 10 recorded sightings in the state, 7, to be exact. While they are still uncommon to rare in the area, they can usually be found by the careful observer searching the right places at the right times. Most of these places have crab apple trees, which appears to be a favorite food item. As far as we know, Purple Finches are a winter visitor. However, at the time of the Nevada Breeding Bird Atlas, the species was suspected to breed in the Carson Range. This has never been confirmed, and suspicions remain. With sightings as late as May and as early as September in Verdi, one must wonder….

 

But speculation aside, there are a few field marks to keep in mind. When seeking Purple Finches-- and they are incredibly beautiful, how could you not?!-- Beware identification pitfalls! We do have two other finch species in the area that can look remarkably similar…In this post I will talk about the identification of House, Cassin’s and Purple Finch.

The first step is determining if the bird you are looking at is male or female-type. The reason I say, “female-type”, is that young male House, Cassin’s, and Purple Finches AND adult females are brown and streaky, however adult males of these species have bright red aspects to their plumage.

Male Purple Finch enjoying crab apples at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, in Reno

Adult males are nice and easy to identify, we’ll start with House Finches. Their slimmer stature, smaller size, and relatively longer tail is often enough to give them away. However, their plumage is different as well; male House Finches are a bright, Crayola-red with obvious brown streaks on their flanks. Male Purple Finches are a deeper, more purpl-ey red than the others, and if they have streaking it is very faint. The distribution of red coloring is different as well. Cassin’s Finches show the boldest red on their forehead, usually an obvious contrasting red patch, and the rest of their plumage tends to be washed lighter red. Purple Finch are more evenly washed red, with deep purple-red hues throughout their face, throat, back, and breast.

House Finch, male. Note the shade of red, like a Crayola crayon, and the brown streaks on the flanks

Cassin’s Finch, male. Note the red is a similar shade to the House Finch, but is concentrated on the forehead, and the belly is washed pink-ish with no streaking.

Purple Finch, male. Note the deeper, raspberry red, similar in distribution to the House Finch but different in hue.

If you are looking at a female-type bird, Purple Finches will likely stand out immediately as larger and bolder than the familiar House Finch; and if not, the face pattern and underpart streaking should give them away. House Finches have messy brown streaking underneath, typically showing fuzzy dark brown streaks on a lighter brown background. Purple Finches have bolder streaking on a whiter background, and Cassin’s Finch have even crisper thin brown streaks on a white background.

House Finches are slightly smaller, slimmer, and longer tailed than either Cassin’s or Purple Finch. Ruling out House Finch is the first step, then a closer look at a few key field marks should identify any female finch. Note the face patterns and streaking of these female finches:

House Finch, female. Note the plain face with no cheek patch, no white eye arcs, blurry brown streaks on a brown breast, and overall cold brown tones

Cassin’s Finch, female. Note the brown cheek patch bordered above and below by paler/white coloring, broken white eye-ring, crisp brown streaks on white breast, and cold brown hue on back

Purple Finch, female. Note greenish-brown hue on back, relatively bold streaking on breast, brown cheek patch bordered by paler/white coloring, with no white around the eye

Once you have ruled out House Finch, based on face pattern and underpart streaking, take a closer look at the eyes. More specifically, the feathers around the eyes: Cassin’s AND Purple Finch both have variably bold white stripes on their face, creating a pattern that outlines their brown cheek patches. However, Cassin’s Finches have broken white eye rings, creating thin eye-arcs, above and below their eyes and Purple Finches do not. Using this combination of field marks should identify any female finch in our area. If the eyes are not particularly visible, look at the breast streaking. the overall coloring of the bird is useful as well. Purple Finches have a greenish cast to their brown plumage, whereas Cassin’s Finches are usually a colder hue of brown. Beware of lighting when assessing these differences. Check out these eye arcs and face patterns on female Cassin’s and Purple Finch:

Cassin’s Finch, female.

 

Cassin’s Finch female. Note the broken white eye ring, bolder across the top and bottom of eye

Purple Finch, female.

 

Purple Finch, female. Note the brown feathers go right up the bird’s eye ball, there is no white around the eye at all.

The final clue to consider when puzzling over streaky brown finches, is vocalizations. The post would not be complete without any mention of ear birding! Finch vocalizations are very diverse and impressive, with male Cassin’s and Purple Finch often including mimicry of other species in their songs. However, each species tends to give distinct calls in flight, just after taking off. These calls can sometimes be heard from perched birds as well. The links below go to the MaCaulay Library where you can listen to these recordings.

Happy Finch-finding!

-Ned

House Finch “chirp” calls

MaCaulay Library Recording: ML626707968 by Sam Reitenour, Dona Ana Co, New Mexico. 11/23/2024

MaCaulay Library Recording: ML625670525 by Scott Ramos, King Co, Washington. 10/31/2024

MaCaulay Library Recording: ML624360857 by Kyle Landstra Multnomah Co, Oregon. 9/30/2024

How to Protect Birds in Your Own Backyard

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Nevada’s vast deserts, mountains, and wetlands are home to 495 bird species, from the familiar and abundant Lesser Goldfinch to the uncommon and threatened LeConte’s Thrasher. We all love to see and hear birds, but they also play vital ecological roles:

Sadly, bird populations across Nevada and beyond face many threats. In fact, one study estimates that the bird populations across North America have decreased by approximately 2.9 billion birds—a loss of more than one in four birds—since 1970 (Rosenberg et al, 2019). Some of the threats that cause these declines can seem large and intractable, and people who care about birds may wonder how they can make a difference. The good news is that there are many that ways we, as individuals, can help birds. Responsible cat ownership is a one important example. Free-roaming cats are a common sight around neighborhoods and rural areas. Some of these cats hunt and kill birds, small mammals and reptiles, and this predation can have species-level, community-level, and even ecosystem-level consequences. By keeping their pets indoors, cat owners can help reduce this threat. There are also many ways that we can improve the value of our back (or front!) yards as bird habitat and reduce the dangers to your avian visitors.

A Better Alternative for Cat Owners

 

Some cats travel farther than one might expect, while others do not wander far at all. Migratory birds such as Rufous Hummingbird and Willow Flycatcher are conservation priority species and share urban and suburban areas with humans and our pets in the spring and fall when they are actively migrating. Responsible pet ownership means more than just caring for your pet’s needs—it also means protecting local wildlife. One easy way to do this is by keeping cats indoors. Many cat owners worry, however, that doing so may interfere with a cat’s “natural” inclination to explore the outdoors. Enclosed cat play areas, often called catios, can solve this dilemma by providing your cat with a secure outdoor area where they can enjoy fresh air, direct sunlight, and the smells and sounds of the outdoors without posing a threat to local wildlife. If you are handy and have a little extra time, you can design and build a catio yourself. You can also purchase designs to follow, or have the whole project designed and constructed by professionals. A catio not only helps birds -- it can also add to the value and attractiveness of your house! The resources listed below can get you started.

Bird-Friendly Backyards

Your options for helping birds don’t stop with catios. By planting native shrubs and trees, installing birdbaths, and avoiding the use of harmful pesticides, bird enthusiasts can attract a variety of species. The resources listed below provide you with some tips and advice . If you have large windows, these can be a collision hazard for birds, so be sure to use decals or other visual clues to let birds know that your window is there. Protecting bird populations requires a collective effort. By making better, more conscientious choices about our pets, our house, and our yards, we can collectively make a difference and create safe spaces for birds and other wildlife.

Additional resources:

Bird Friendly Backyards:

Catios:

Further reading:

Rosenberg K.V., A. M. Dokter, P. J. Blancher, J. R. Sauer, A. C. Smith, P. A. Smith, J. C. Stanton, A. Panjabi, L. Helft, M. Parr and P. P. Marra. 2019. Decline of the North American avifauna. Science 366 (6461), 120-124. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw1313. Originally published online September 19, 2019

https://dariuszzdziebk.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Bird-Decline-paper_Science-formatted_final.pdf

Pinyon Jay Surveys

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Great Basin Bird Observatory has been heavily involved with all things Pinyon Jay of late, and among these many programs, is our first year of statewide Pinyon Jay surveys in Nevada. These surveys began in the early Spring and are scheduled to go through the end of September; surveyors were freezing their tails off in March, and some are still out there beating the heat! This is because Pinyon Jays can begin nest-building as soon as temperatures allow, sometimes as early as February. Nesting is a critical aspect of their life history, and we want to catch as much of it as possible with our surveys. By the fall, they are engaged in another very important behavior—the harvesting of Pinyon Pine nuts! The harvesting of Pinyon Pine nuts is potentially the most critical aspect of their life history, these birds are incredibly dependent on pine nuts. By observing their behavior and habitat use at these critical times of year, we can fill knowledge gaps and inform habitat conservation. This year, I got a chance to do some surveys, here is my ebird report!

Pinyon Juniper woodland in the Clover Mountains, note the hard edge of a treatment zone between PJ and sagebrush in the background. Photo by Ned Bohman

Pinyon Jay with nesting material. Photo by Ned Bohman

This may seem like unlikely Pinyon Jay habitat, but the birds were flying up and down these washes, visiting cache sites in the cliff walls and on the ground. Photo by Ned Bohman

Pinyon Jays use large areas of the landscape for their home range, and these home ranges typically include significant variation in habitat. This is because Pinyon Jays need different habitats for different parts of their annual cycle and life history. In late winter and early spring, they are establishing the flock’s nesting colony site. These are typically at the upper edge of the transition zone between open lands and Pinyon-Juniper woodlands. The specific composition of these open lands varies from region to region, but is typically made up of grasslands or shrub-dominated habitats consisting of sagebrush or blackbrush. Throughout the spring and early summer, the birds will travel from this colony site to caching and foraging locations throughout the flock’s home range, which can be miles from the colony. Caching locations are most commonly found at lower elevations of the home range, as well as on slopes and patches of large bare ground that tend to be free of snow more often in winter. Later in the summer and throughout the fall, the birds move to more densely forested areas of their home range. The Pinyon Pines that compose an important component of these forests are producing ripe nuts at this time of year. These Pine Nuts will be the winter sustenance of the flock. Throughout the coldest months of the year Pinyon Jays sole food sources are caches of these nuts that they have made throughout the preceding autumn.

Adults, encouraging their kids to flee. Photo by Ned Bohman

Because of this fascinating and unique life history, standard survey techniques aren’t the most effective way to survey for Pinyon Jays. The knowledge gaps remaining in their natural history are largely a result of this; and without this knowledge an effective conservation strategy can’t be developed. With a specialized protocol, we hope to fill these in and develop an effective conservation strategy. The protocol for these surveys was developed by the world’s Pinyon Jay experts of the Partners in Flight Pinyon Jay Working Group. These surveys are plot-based area searches on 2.5 kilometer square plots. To complete a survey, the surveyor must spend 3 hours and get within 1000 meters of all points on the plot.

 

Pinyon Jay fledgling begging. Note the pale yellow inner edge of bill (the gape), and overall gray color. Photo by Ned Bohman

In late May, I got a chance to help out with some of these surveys in southern Nevada. I hit the road from Reno, and got to survey in the Sheep Range and the Clover Mountains. The Sheep Range is on the opposite side of the valley from the Spring Mountains, east of the Corn Creek Visitor Center at Desert National Wildlife Refuge and the Clover Mountains run uniquely east to west, just south of Caliente. Before beginning my Pinyon Jay surveys, I did a few other surveys for other GBBO projects nearby. On these surveys I had my first Pinyon Jay detection of the tour, and also my first of many pseudo-Pinyon Jay detections. In Mount Potosi Canyon, on this same survey every year, I detect 2-5 Pinyon Jays. They are always moving up and down the valley, as if it is an important corridor between key areas of their home range. Perhaps more interesting, the Northern Mockingbirds on this plot were showing a fondness for the uniquely shrill Pinyon Jay fledgling begging calls. Surprisingly, I heard this in every single survey location I travelled to for the remainder of my tour, making positive aural detections a bit of a challenge at times!

 

My first survey was at approximately 7,000 feet elevation in the Sheep Range, in closed canopy Pinyon-Juniper woodland. I did not expect to see Pinyon Jays on this plot, it didn’t feel like the right time of year for them to be in this habitat, and the fact that I had been to this location a few times before and never seen them also contributed to that sense. However, as they tend to do whenever you think you have them figured out, they proved me wrong! I saw just 4 or 5 birds, likely a family group exploring food resources. They perched at the tops of a few different pines with ripening cones, appeared to check them out, and moved through the area and were gone almost as quickly as they had arrived. While they weren’t extensively using the plot, it was interesting that they were there. Also interesting, and boding well for later in the year, was an abundance of ripening, green cones on a high proportion of the Pinyon Pines in the area. This turned out to be the case for each plot I surveyed this trip.

 

My successive surveys took me to a number of different areas and habitat types, and it was great to see so many cones at so many different elevations. My next plot in the Sheep Range, had a rather large group of Pinyon Jay families, attended by a couple dozen gray-plumaged fledglings. I could hear them begging from quite the distance, I could tell there were several birds begging, so I did not suspect Mockingbirds, but still had to confirm I was not being pranked. Once I clambered to the top of the ridgeline they were on, and barely caught sight of them, they moved it along to the next ridge.

Pinyon Jay perching briefly as it passed through my plot. Photo by Ned Bohman

These blurry, bright green cones photographed in May will be ripe in August. Photo by Ned Bohman

 

Once I got over to the Clovers, my surveys took me up a habitat gradient from shrub land to Joshua Tree-Juniper-Pinyon transition zone, to closed canopy Pinyon-Juniper woodland. One plot in the closed canopy woodland had clearings filled with Sagebrush steppe habitat, and evidence of an old tree removal treatment with telltale hard edges. The lower elevation plots did not have Pinyon Jays at this time. I did, however, have Mockingbirds singing Pinyon Jay fledgling begging calls and many other interesting sightings. Some of these included fledgling Rufous-crowned Sparrows and impressively abundant Gray Vireos on multiple plots. The flyover Zone-tailed Hawk probably takes the cake, though. Every spring in southern NV, it’s worth double checking your Turkey Vultures!

 

Rufous-crowned Sparrow (Adult) photo by Ned Bohman

 

I did eventually find Pinyon Jays using the higher elevations of the Clover Mountains. I first heard their calls in the distance, and had quite a time catching up to them. When I did finally catch up to them, they were using the cleared Sagebrush habitat and traveling along the edge of the woodland. It appeared that they were traveling from these open areas, to an area at the base of a large hill, surrounded by closed canopy Pinyon-Juniper woodland. It is interesting to note that most of my Pinyon Jay detections were in closed canopy woodland for these surveys in late May.

 

Pinyon Pine growing at a lower elevation, covered in soon-to-be-ripe cones. Photo by Ned Bohman

 

I had a brief opportunity for some fall Pinyon Jay surveys last week, and will hopefully have some more over the course of the month. The fall surveys aren’t just for birds—these surveys feature a cone-mapping component, too. As I mentioned previously, the pinyon pine nut is a critical resource to the Pinyon Jay, because of this, GBBO is tracking the productivity of Pinyon Pines across the state. Eventually we hope to be able to discern patterns in pinyon productivity across the landscape. This particular survey took me to the Desatoya Mountains of central Nevada, where I found the pine cones to be far less abundant than in the mountains of southern Nevada, back in May. I also found Pinyon Jays using habitat at a slightly lower elevation. The birds I saw were caching pine nuts on a sparsely vegetated, south-facing hillside. It was almost as if they were selecting an area that has a good chance of being snow-free in the winter months…. It will be interesting to see what the bigger picture is, after we have results from more survey locations! For more information, and all things Pinyon Jay natural history, check out the resources on our Pinyon Jay Conservation HUB: https://pinyon-jay-community-science-gbbo.hub.arcgis.com/pages/resources.

-Ned

Pinyon Juniper woodland at 7000 feet, give or take, Sheep Range. Photo by Ned Bohman

We Have All The Right Ansers, Bird-a-thon 2024

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We Have All the Right Ansers started their Bird-a-thon on May 11th at 3:30 AM by owling their way up Spooner Summit, and along the east shore of Lake Tahoe. Despite several stops in promising locations, the only owl we managed to detect was Great Horned Owl. One of the stops did yield the day’s only Common Poorwill, however. We made our way back down the hill, and hit Washoe Lake at daybreak. Clark’s and Western Grebe, Savannah Sparrow, Spotted Sandpiper, ducks of many varieties; with species pouring in, we were off to a good start! Caspian Terns flew over just in time to keep us on schedule, so we headed back across the highway to Davis Creek for the dawn chorus. Though we were slowed a little on the way by neighborhood birds, including Western Bluebird and American Goldfinch, seen while driving. A pit stop for Long-billed Curlew and Willet in the wet fields opposite Washoe Lake was also well worth it. Back at Davis Creek, we added White-headed Woodpecker, Brown Creeper, Calliope Hummingbird, Nashville Warbler, quickly tallying songbirds. Having to call it good with a heard-only MacGillivray’s Warbler, it was time to move on. But, where were the Wilson’s Warblers??

We continued south into Carson City, logging Western Kingbird and Swainson’s Hawk from the highway. A quick stop at the Bentley Heritage trail yielded Vesper and Lark Sparrows. Another quick jog along the Carson River turned up Rock Wren and Wood Duck, but no Golden Eagles at the eponymous open space. With Sage Thrasher and Brewer’s Sparrow seen from the car, we felt off to a strong start! Still heading south, the Carson Valley wetlands produced Tricolored Blackbird and Wilson’s Snipe, as we had hoped. Bald Eagle and Sandhill Crane were in predictable locations, a likely stop just outside of Genoa turned up Virginia Rail and Sora in 5 short minutes. This allowed us to zoom back up to Lake Tahoe, only 30 minutes behind schedule now. Peregrine Falcon at Cave Rock, Red-breasted Sapsucker and Green-tailed Towhee at Spooner Lake. With a longer stop than planned for at the lower Marlette Lake trail, the ghost-like Pileated Woodpecker did not oblige us with a sighting (or sound), but we did have 4 surprise Pine Grosbeak and a few booming Sooty Grouse! But where are the Dusky Flycatchers?

 

Team member, Paul Hurtado spying the day’s first Anseriformes

Having not done ourselves any favors in terms of the schedule with this stop, we hurried on to Tahoe Meadows. There were White-crowned Sparrows singing on the snowpack, but conditions were not going to allow us to try for Williamson’s Sapsucker or Lincoln’s Sparrow on breeding grounds. Making our way back down the hill, we stopped at Galena Creek, but still couldn’t buy a White-breasted Nuthatch. And where are the Dusky Flycatchers?? One last attempt at Thomas Creek was not particularly productive, but our hearts all leapt when Ben called out Vaux’s Swift, and sure enough 4 whole swifts were swiftly zooming by!

With the morning well behind us, it was time to focus on shorebirds and water birds. Knowing that good mud and certain species were going to be in short supply, we allowed for a quick stop at Damonte Ranch, but there were no Godwits or Dowitchers, of any length bill to be found. A homeowner had graciously given us permission to stop by and try to see a Lawrence’s Goldfinch that had been frequenting their feeder, but alas, the bird did not make an appearance. At this point, we were starting to feel a little unlucky… where are the Wilson’s Warblers? When, just then, a hummingbird zipped in, and perched for just long enough to be identified as a Costa’s Hummingbird! Well that saves us a trip out to Lockwood, and we need all the minutes we can get back!

Having spent as long as we could here, we zipped over to Hidden Valley, and at least the Black-throated Sparrow and Anna’s Hummingbird were in their requisite perches, making this a quick stop. On our way to Verdi, we stopped at Sparks Marina. While there were no gulls out of the ordinary, the continuing Red-breasted Merganser did oblige us with a sighting. Once we got to Verdi, we had our sights set on woodpeckers, Lewis’s and Acorn Woodpeckers had both been seen the day before, but alas, not this day. We had several Purple Finch, but, not to sound ungrateful, where were the Dusky Flycatchers?? Feeling like there ought to be Evening Grosbeak around somewhere, we cruised around town for longer than we should have, but did not manage to turn up any new species. At this point, we knew we were low on migrants, and felt that a stop at Rancho San Rafael could be productive in this department. It was not. Ned heard a Ruby-crowned Kinglet utter a single call note, but couldn’t find it or make it talk again so everyone could hear. At this point, we felt that we were running out of daylight, and still had birds to find in the north valleys. With nothing gained from Rancho, we made a quick pit stop for caffeine (doesn’t everyone need a pick me up around 7 pm?!) and headed for Silver Lake.

We Have All The Right Ansers, developing ground-breaking new techniques for spotting raptors after dark

 

By this point, a pattern was emerging; the Sanderling that had been present throughout the prior week was nowhere to be seen this day. But we did manage to add Western Sandpiper and Bonaparte’s Gull to the list. With the sun beginning to get low, we had to get to Swan Lake before we lost the light. Once there, we added Canvasback and Bufflehead, but the swarms of Black Terns and Franklin’s Gulls we knew were there, must have been just over the horizon…. We used the last of our light to get over to the Fleetwood drive access point, but did not find anything new here. With the sun fully set, and conditions too dark to identify birds without a light source, we tallied up our list. Over the course of one heck of a day, we managed to list 144 species of bird. Check out this link to see the full list on the eBird trip report. I still have one question, where are the Dusky Flycatchers?

From the archives: The Iron Merlin's Big Day 2020

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As we approach the 2024 Nevada Bird-a-thon, our thoughts run to our adventures of Bird-a-thons past. Once upon a time, GBBO’s Bird-a-thon team, The Iron Merlins, set out on May 6th, 2020. The day finished with 128 species of birds, along with some unidentified hummingbirds and peeps, and very few other humans. Birding during these early months of the pandemic had us noticing other people far more than usual, and instead of our usual eagerness to share our sightings with anyone and everyone within hailing distance, we were still in very diligent Social Distancing Mode. The day started at 3 AM at Damonte Ranch wetlands - heavily caffeinated and hoping for some rails calling late at night.  A few Virginia Rails obliged us, and several other species vocalized, including singing Marsh Wrens.  Feeling off to a strong start, we headed off to find some owls, but as we drove up to the Carson Range we realized that the strong winds were going to put a damper on our owling effort.  

Dawn at Galena Creek by Kayla Henry

 

We followed our route into the Carson Valley, and feeling a little pressed for time decided to skip a few spots, hoping we would have time to get out to Carson Lake in Fallon.  Vesper Sparrows cooperated very nicely at the Bentley-Kirman trail, a singing Lark Sparrow at the west end of Sunrise Pass road was our only one for the day, but Juniper Titmouse eluded us.  Rushing over to Mason Valley, we stopped a few times in the PJ along Highway 395, and enjoyed Western Bluebirds, a flock of 20 Evening Grosbeaks, and a singing Lazuli Bunting from the flowering bitterbrush. We picked up White-throated Swift and (sigh) an unidentified Hummingbird at a quick stop in Wilson Canyon, but no Canyon Wrens.  By the time we got to Mason Valley, it was HOT, the cottonwoods were not jumping with migrants as we might have hoped, and water levels seemed to be much lower than usual. After driving around for a bit we decided we had better head for wetter conditions in Fallon, as those wetlands had been very productive just a week ago. As we drove out of Yerington, a Golden Eagle appeared almost on command, soaring over the mountains just as we were talking about them.  But how did we manage to complete the drive to Fallon without seeing any Horned Larks flying across the highway?

 

Pine Nut Mountains by Kayla Henry

 

On our way back in, we were drawn to the wetland and pond complexes of southeast Reno, and finally picked up Northern Pintail.  Our second round at Damonte yielded a Marbled Godwit, but we were still missing some very common species. So we raced across town to Oxbow in search of a Yellow Warbler, but just could not get one to sing for us.  Running low on daylight, we heard a Downy Woodpecker whinny and decided we had better check elsewhere. We booked it to the Mogul bridge for the lingering Hooded Oriole.  As we arrived it was just getting dark, but an American Dipper called and flew under the bridge right as we were crossing, and midway across the bridge we watched a Bullock’s Oriole chase a smaller Hooded Oriole into one of the cottonwoods.  Another few minutes and we spotted the Great Horned Owl on its nest. Still no flashing Yellow Warblers…Just about out of daylight, we thought we might try for that strangely-elusive warbler and maybe Greater Yellowlegs and Wood Duck at Rancho San Rafael. No such luck, but we finally got a Ring-necked Duck.  Then as bats began to emerge from their roosts, we realized we had left our headlamps in the truck, so we decided to call it a day: a long, exhausting, bird-filled, wonderful day … with celebratory burritos awaiting!

Marsh Wrens DO sing in the dark, Damonte Ranch Wetlands by Kayla Henry

 

Noticing the time, we figured we had better stake out our Dawn Chorus spot.  Galena Creek yielded another 28 species, including a singing Olive-sided Flycatcher and a Western Wood-Pewee, and a few distant humans on another trail.  We spent the morning hitting various spots throughout the Carson Range and along the east shore of Lake Tahoe. Lingering snow prevented some high elevation access, but Spooner Lake was lovely. Here we had our first Wilson’s Warblers, Evening Grosbeaks, and a calling Northern Pygmy-Owl! Perhaps it was the amazing sun-soaked meadows, beautiful weather, and flyover Bald Eagle that set the tone for us needing to make up time throughout the day…But still we managed to go until 10:30 AM before seeing or hearing a single Clark’s Nutcracker…though we had to use the 95% rule since I only saw the shadow of the Nutcracker that Kayla clearly saw fly over. But nonetheless, we felt very successful as this was likely the most potentially crowded place we would be birding all day and we only saw a few distant trail-runners.

 

Not a Nutcracker in sight (or sound) Spooner Lake by Kayla Henry

 
 

As we got to Fallon it became clear that conditions were not significantly wetter here, but the Horned Larks didn’t mind, and kindly cooperated. We managed to turn up Sora and Long-billed Curlew, and scope out some distant kettling Pelicans. Those peeps we flushed while driving just wouldn’t land though... An Ash-throated Flycatcher in the greasewood was a nice surprise, and this ended up being the only location where we saw Northern Mockingbirds. A Sagebrush Sparrow sang in the greasewood, we spotted a Gray Flycatcher, and then we headed off to the next stop. We missed Bufflehead and Lesser Scaup at S-line reservoir, but the Great Egret and Double-crested Cormorant rookeries were enjoyable to watch. No time for Screech-owls, but maybe Soda lake has some Phalarope hanging out? No? Ok- time to race back to Reno to attempt to make up for species missed along the way!

Christmas Bird Count #124

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The 124th Christmas Bird Count season just ended, and I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in two different counts! Every year, birders and citizen scientists from around the world gather and volunteer for Christmas Bird Counts. These counts are done in the same locations each year; each count is a 15-mile diameter circle centered around a central location. Volunteers divide this circle up into manageable sections, and set to counting every bird they can find by any means available. The data sheets have options for tallying effort by foot, car, snowmobile/ATV, and even dog sled. Christmas Bird Counts have been running for 124 years, and all of the data is available on the National Audubon Society’s website, for free! Right here: Christmas Bird Count Data! That aspect makes this citizen science tradition a very valuable data set, in addition to being a fun excuse to get together and look for winter birds. Most of the first counts in 1900, were in the eastern United States. Nowadays, there are dozens of counts in most states, and the tradition has spread to other countries too. The world record for a single count circle was set in Ecuador, on the eastern slope of the Andes, with a species count of 531! I doubt they ever tally effort by dog sled there!

 

This year, I travelled to eastern Nevada to check out what the Elko and Jarbidge counts were all about. OK, I had an idea what they would be like, particularly since I have participated in the Elko count before…The Jarbidge count had a bit of a reputation in my mind. For those of you who are not familiar, Jarbidge is located in the northeastern corner of Nevada, about 50 miles north of Elko. In the summer, you can get to Jarbidge in a bit over an hour from Elko. In the winter, that road is snowed in. Given how far north in the state it is, and all of these logistics, I was ready for some real wintery counting conditions. Especially since last year, the temperature in Elko during that count barely got above 0!

Northern Shrike, December, 2022. Elko, NV
Photo by Ned Bohman

This year, things were a bit different. By this point in the season, conditions had been, and remained rather mild. Once we got into the town of Jarbidge, the locals, all 3 of them, told us that this was an unusually light snow year, thus far. However, we were already tipped off to this fact, we started the day seeing 18 Greater Sage Grouse at a lek site, with at least 10 males actively displaying! Over the course of the count, we counted dozens of Townsend’s Solitaire, many of which were singing. There were flocks of chickadee, kinglet, and nuthatch in the trees; and sparrows, flickers, and robins on the ground. The lekking Sage Grouse was the most unusual sighting of the day, but a robin barely evading a Sharp-shinned Hawk not much larger than itself, was quite a sight. As I was leaving the count area, I saw a Mountain Lion on the side of the road, and as soon as it registered, I had just enough time to watch it take a few steps and disappear into the Juniper!

Hermit Thrush, December, 2023. Jarbidge, NV
Photo by Ned Bohman

Townsend’s Solitaire, Deember, 2023. Elko, NV
Photo by Ned Bohman

The Elko count was much less wild, but nonetheless fun and interesting. At this latitude in the state, species like Say’s Phoebe, American Crow, and Red-winged Blackbird become scarce to absent in the winter. Bewick’s Wren are an unusual find, while Gray-crowned and Black Rosy Finch are expected at feeders. I began my day counting birds at the dump, and to everyone’s disappointment there was not a gull in sight. What there were, were 178 Common Raven and a Merlin chasing 500+ starlings and House Sparrows. My section ran into the Pinyon and Juniper woodland on the south side of town, and I had good luck with Mountain Chickadee, Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay, and Townsend’s Solitaire. I finished the day in a housing development watching feeders and counted many Dark-eyed Junco, White-crowned Sparrow, and the count’s only Bewick’s Wren! I later heard that someone did, in fact, have dozens of Rosy-Finches visit their feeder.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time birding in a part of the state I don’t get to visit often enough. Not only did I have a great time, but I contributed data to a citizen science database. Christmas Bird Counts are a great way to participate in science, while the data collection is not particularly rigorous, the results can be very useful to researchers. If you are interested in participating, there is probably a count hear you. For a list of locations in northern Nevada, see the Lahontan Audubon Society’s website: https://www.nevadaaudubon.org/birding-news/christmas-bird-counts-2023. For southern Nevada check in with Red Rock Audubon at: https://www.redrockaudubon.com/event/list. These are all subject to change every year based on volunteer availability, so be sure to check in with your local Audubon Chapter.  One hundred years of counting produces a lot of data, and with time spans like this covered, the data can be useful to look at trends of abundance and diversity. For more info check out this interview with Audubon scientists about how they use the data: https://www.audubon.org/news/inside-data-factory.

You can also read an abstract of a study they published here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.16063!

Looking back at 2021 continued: Owens Valley, Crescent Dunes, & Species Shifts

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Owen’s Valley, CA. May, 2023

Owens Valley Program

Kelly and Kayla run the Owens River program, and tag-teamed for this update!

In spring 2021, GBBO began a three-year monitoring effort on the Owens River on Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (SWFL), Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Least Bell’s Vireos, and other riparian obligate species. Despite drought conditions, partners from Southern Sierra Research station detected over 100 SWFL territories using call playback. SWFL nests were also monitored for success and parasitism – 11 nests were found on 10 territories. While at least 6 of these were parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds, they produced at least 13 fledglings.

We were also joined by Murrelet Halterman, who conducted Yellow-billed Cuckoo surveys in the area. Two cuckoos were detected (one was an incidental), though neither was thought to be territorial. No Bell’s Vireo were recorded during point counts, but we recorded 92 species along 10 point count transects. We look forward to surveying again this spring!

Nest with decoy egg

 

Willow Flycatcher nest with eggs and nestling

Kayla added: These surveys are no joke and had us crawling through thick willow, wild rose, and stinging nettle all while hoping our rubber boots were tall enough to avoid wet feet. A fun encounter in one of the most densely forested parts of the riparian corridor was coming face to face with a Northern Saw-whet Owl (no photo, but an extremely cool sighting)! One of the interesting things we learned during Willow Flycatcher nest monitoring was to replace any Brown-headed Cowbird eggs found with decoy eggs. One of the reasons for using the decoy egg is to trick the SWFL parents into thinking that nothing has changed. If they notice fewer eggs in the nest, they may think the nest has been parasitized and abandon it. Another fun fact is if a cowbird lays an egg in a nest before a SWFL does, the SWFL may realize there is a foreign egg or object in the nest, prompting them to build another bottom layer to the nest covering the egg. This way, the cowbird egg won’t hatch. Overall, this was an exciting project and the awe-inspiring sunrises and sunsets of the eastern Sierras never got old. Though the days had their challenges, monitoring SWFL nests was extremely rewarding. Plus we had some adorable field dogs to keep us company and made the most of our time working in and around Bishop!

 

Monitoring Renewable Energy Facilities

GBBO continues to monitor the impacts of renewable energy facilities in on birds and bats by conducting ongoing standardized mortality surveys. In the Altamont Wind Energy Area of California, our teams are working on two sites to perform these surveys using highly trained dogs that locate mortalities by scent. At the Crescent Dunes Solar Facility near Tonopah, human survey teams perform the searches. These efforts are critical in understanding and minimizing any negative effects of renewable energy production on birds and bats.

 

Crescent Dunes Solar Facility, Tonopah, NV

- John

 

Species Range Shifts

I think everyone is going to talk about how hot and dry 2021 was. Every year there are seasonal differences, but the ones I saw this year were some of the starkest I’ve ever observed. Rather than gloom and doom the place up, how about a less direct discussion of these changes!

In early 2021, many birders are aware, that the northernmost nesting attempt of LeConte’s Thrasher was documented, rather thoroughly by a few researchers. This nesting effort was ultimately unsuccessful, but suggests several important things. The species has not necessarily been extensively studied, but those who have spent considerable time with them all note that they are not exceptional flyers, and do not disperse particularly far. This nesting site was some 200 miles north of the closest previously known nesting location. For a bird that is not described as a particularly strong flyer, that is a pretty impressive distance for not 1, but 2, birds of opposite sexes to travel and find each other. Jay Sheppard’s recent book, The Biology of a Desert Apparition: LeConte’s Thrasher. It seems likely that these guys are making smaller leaps, finding suitable habitat along the way, and making their way north. If only birding the salt desert were more exciting, we could get some more eyes out there…

Another notable recent bird sighting is a 2nd record for NV. The Barred Owl is expanding south through the Sierra Nevada, and before that, the Cascades, and before that, west through the boreal shield. This pattern suggests we are likely to see more of them in Nevada. While the specific reasons for both of these phenomenon are the grounds of much speculation, it is nonetheless interesting to note we are seeing some species coming south, and some coming north, of their expected ranges. Nevada is a large state that covers a lot of habitat, and as such, we are uniquely situated at the fringes of many species’ ranges. In my mind, this makes Nevada an extremely interesting place to pay attention to the birds, as we see changes in climate such as those observed in the 2021 field season.

-Ned

 

Barred Owl at Fly Ranch, Ned Bohman

Looking Back at 2021: the Nevada Bird Count & IMBCR programs

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Wow, how time is flying!  Our 2022 field work is now well underway.  We had a very successful 2021, and are bringing those experiences to the current year!  So we will be sharing a short series of blogposts to talk about what we were working on last year, and some of the highlights and maybe a few lessons learned.

I’ll start off talking about our Nevada Bird Count/IMBCR (Integrated Monitoring of Bird Conservation Regions) crew/projects.  It’s probably not a surprise to anyone, but man, 2021 was DRY. Scarily dry.  We started off helping out with surveys for the thrasher program in April - Dawn will be sharing some highlights from that later – and our southern Nevada point count surveys. I wrote up a blogpost on one of my thrasher surveys down there last year – you can find that here.  My overwhelming memory is of large numbers of desert shrubs, with few to no leaves – even the creosotes with brown dessicated leaves, and branches that had died back within the past year. Even the seemingly-ever-present Black-throated Sparrows appeared impacted – many did not appear to be breeding (unusually, I never saw any breeding evidence for them during my southern Nevada surveys). Even singing was affected – one creosote site where I’ve camped and surveyed most years since 2008, where there are always Black-throated Sparrows singing during the breeding season – I heard one singing a single short phrase at about 3 o’clock in the morning, and that was it.  It brought Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring to mind.  One of our sites in the southern Great Basin looms similarly large in my mind – very few birds singing, with many of the sagebrush only supporting a branch or two that contained leaves.

Our two primary Nevada Bird Count projects were located at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and along the Truckee River. Our Ash Meadows surveys were definitely a breath of fresh air amongst our other southern Nevada upland projects, and it was wonderful to be surveying near water!  My favorite survey was definitely our Crystal Reservoir transect that samples the wet ash meadows near the reservoir.  Summer Tanagers, a few Phainopepla and Vermilion Flycatchers, lots of Bewick’s Wrens … and wet feet!

 

Vermilion Flycatcher at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Jen Ballard

Our Truckee River surveys continued work begun in the 1990s along the lower Truckee River, from Lockwood down to Nixon. As with our Ash Meadows surveys, we definitely appreciated surveying near water!  What stands out the most to me was the growth of the young cottonwoods (and a few willows) that had established in 2017-2018, and surveying points where once we’d had an unobstructed view for hundreds of meters, and now we looked out at a bank of young cottonwoods, their tops waving in the breeze.  On one of the long-term area search plots, where for years we had only had Yellow Warblers migrating through, now there were several territories, two with confirmed young.  It was incredibly heartening!

 

Upper McCarran #11, in 2019 ... you can see the young cottonwoods coming up!

Same place, 2021 ... you can just barely see the top of the hill & gallery cottonwoods!

 

Last but not least, we conducted 109 surveys of IMBCR plots for the BLM and Forest Service in Nevada and eastern California.  Our Forest Service surveys are only on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and cover all three conservation regions, in the Carson Range/Sierras, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert.  Our BLM surveys were only within BCR 9 (the so-called Great Basin region). We definitely appreciated the opportunity to cover most of Nevada and some of eastern California, and having such widespread coverage was helpful to look at drought impacts.

I mentioned above that we appeared to be seeing impacts of the drought on the Black-throated Sparrows in our IMBCR surveys.  During the season, it seemed I was detecting fewer of them, and when I was, it seemed there were more at higher elevations than “normal,” and further north.  Talking to Ned, he, too, was seeing them in greater numbers on his more northern surveys.  So I did a quick data dive – I didn’t look at elevation, so I can’t say whether my initial impressions were correct in that regard, but we certainly did see some changes in latitude!  The following quick video shows the results of three years of our BLM surveys – the numbers are detections of Black-throated Sparrows within 100m, summarized at the transect level, but to maintain consistency between years, I only used data from points that were surveyed in each of the three years: 2019, 2020, and 2021.  We can see that there’s a fair amount of annual variation in those numbers, but that there was a clear tendency for fewer detections overall, and fewer detections in southern Nevada.

 
 

The total abundance (of all species) was even clearer on these surveys, declining over the three-year period, with the steepest drop in 2021, where total detections (tallied as above) in 2021 were 25% lower those in 2019.  Here’s how those results were visualized.

 
 

So, it was an interesting year for us, and we are looking forward to seeing what 2022 holds!  Stay tuned for our next installment ….

- Jen

Surveying in the Spring Mountains, May 2021

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The daunting north wall of Potosi Canyon

Well, tomorrow’s plot starts up there…I was thinking to myself as I gazed upward, enjoying the sunset on the cliffs of Potosi Mountain and it’s neighboring peaks. Part of the standard evening routine is determining what time I need to set the alarm for the morning, factoring in that I must climb a full 1,000 feet higher than my current elevation, in a half- mile, 30 minutes before sunrise. While the implications of this were setting in, I heard a Scott’s Oriole singing.  It was a welcome reprieve from the unwelcome realization that it was not yet dark, and yet I will be waking up in 8 hours for a doozy of a hike. I poked my head around the corner to see the gorgeous male Scott’s Oriole perched atop a lonely Pinyon, and got to appreciate his beauty for a brief moment before he realized I was watching. It was truly a lovely, peaceful scene-not a soul in sight, shadows growing long as the sun’s amber glow bathes the cliffs, while the melody of my oriole carries across the valley.

 

Sunrise over Potosi Canyon, from the top of north wall

 

This survey is part of our IMBCR program on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands, which I briefly discussed in my previous post about Grasshopper Sparrows. IMBCR stands for Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions, and is a very neat project developed by Bird Conservancy of the Rockies in 2007.  It connects a massive survey area, nearly the entire western United States, under a common protocol, and generates some very interesting and useful data. These surveys are point-count surveys with 16 points, arranged in a grid, each point 250 meters apart, so that a 1kmx1km grid is created. In order to be a valid survey, at least 6 points must be completed.


I have surveyed this plot before … have I mentioned it’s steep?!  Every direction you look is a stunning mountain-scape of sheer cliffs and infinite vistas. On this particular plot it is only humanly possible to (safely) reach 6 survey points; dangerous cliffs and scree slopes prevent access to a majority of the plot.  So, I have painted a picture of a very difficult location to traverse, but it is not without its rewards. A previous surveyor found Rufous-crowned Sparrows two years in a row up there, even confirming breeding once!  I missed them the first time, but was hopeful for this second time. I should have known that if I lugged my camera up there, they would smell me coming and make themselves scarce. You can likely gather I did not detect any Rufous-crowns on this survey either. Gray Vireos, Black-chinned Sparrows, Scott’s Orioles, and White-throated Swifts would have to suffice—poor me, I know, it’s a tough job, but some one’s got to do it! 

Cliffs, cliffs, and more cliffs!

 Once safely down the mountain, it was just a little jaunt back to camp.  Once there, it was time to decompress and pack up camp. But, first things first, after a hike like that I needed ice cold refreshment. Fortunately for me, modern technology has created miraculously insulated vessels that hold ice for days.  It was only 9:00 (I had been up since 4:00, after all) yet the sun was still warming the air to a point just beyond comfort.  With no shade in sight, and the patch created by my truck rapidly dwindling, it was time to finish up, pack up, and get on out of here.  Another adventure awaits, as I get out the maps and begin navigating to tomorrow’s survey! 

- Ned

Surveying for Desert Thrashers

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My day starts about an hour before sunrise on this April morning, as I get up and prep for the coming day’s surveys here near Knob Hill, by Searchlight.  Grabbing my pack and my water bottle, I start walking, and arrive on my first of three plots a few minutes after sunrise, enjoying that golden moment when the landscape glows … but not enjoying it for too long!, since as soon as I crest the ridgelet that is on my plot’s boundary, I need to scan around me, on the off chance there’s a thrasher perched.  No such luck. 

 

So I begin walking the plot. It’s a 300 by 300 meter block, and I’ve got 40 minutes to survey it - so I walk the length of the block, north then south then north again, making sure that I get within 50m of every point in it.  We’re collecting information on every bird we detect using the plot, but mostly we’re focused on Bendire’s and Le Conte’s Thrashers, and Loggerhead Shrikes. It’s a busy little plot, with several singing Black-throated Sparrows, some migrating Brewer’s Sparrows, chirping House Finches (though nothing like the flock of 90 I saw on a plot two days before), a Ladder-backed Woodpecker, with a singing Scott’s Oriole and Cactus Wren a bit beyond the plot boundaries.  None of my focal species though.

On to the next! It’s funny, the habitat isn’t much different and it’s still early in the morning, but this plot is SILENT compared to the first one.  I flush a group of four silent adult Black-throated Sparrows, and a little thereafter a silent Mourning Dove. And then, as I near one corner, where there’s a little bit higher density of Mojave Yucca, there it is – a fairly quiet, long song, that screams THRASHER. I pause my 40-minute timer, and head over to the yuccas … and nothing. I wander around in hope that I’m going to find it, but time is ticking, and I need to continue my survey. So I sigh, excited but a little bummed that I haven’t been able to see it, re-start my timer – and there it is! Yep, a beautiful Le Conte’s Thrasher, perched on the top of a Mojave yucca, beginning to sing again.  So I re-pause my timer, enjoy the view, and then when it flies off shortly thereafter, walk over to get the perch location and other details. Then I get going again, and finish up the plot.

My final plot is also quiet, so I’m able to survey it straight through with no pauses, and then work on some habitat surveys (and finish up my water bottle - my internal thermometer is still set on northern Nevada mode!). Finally, I’m done, and ready for the hike back to the car. After several days of work, it feels really good to finally have a thrasher! It is so incredibly dry down here right now, and the plants are reflecting that. Over the past several days, I’ve been looking at white bursage that are functionally leafless; creosotes often still with brownish leaves, and letting one or more branches die; and shadscale lacking a full set of leaves – with many of those that are there, dropping at the gentlest touch. So I wonder how the thrashers will respond, and am looking forward to the end of the survey season, and being able to see where we have found them, and what we're able to conclude about this year's breeding season.

This desert thrasher project has arisen out of Partners in Flight’s Desert Thrasher Working Group. You can find more information about the working group here. 

 Happy birding,

Jen

 Epilogue: As it turned out, that was the only thrasher I detected during my surveys. Data are still in the entry phase right now, so stay tuned for the overall results.

Thrasher survey plot west of the Spring Mountains

Lazdigo Buntings

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We all know and love Lazuli Buntings, with their brilliant blue hue and sweet, warbler-y song.  When I hear my first Lazuli of the season, my first thought is almost always: “wait, what’s THAT warbler??” And then it hits me: of course, it’s a Laz!  But now, let’s introduce more confusion, a very close relative to our beloved Lazuli: the Indigo Bunting.  Not that this species is anything new, especially to those of us who have ever lived in the eastern United States - these guys can be THE most common songbird in some overgrown fields. They are continuing to expand their breeding range, westward and northward.  The species’ distribution during the breeding season roughly encompasses the entire eastern United States, north to very southern Canada and west to the Mississippi River, though they do hop over the river a bit, and there is a spur cutting from northeastern Nebraska southwest through Colorado; encompassing New Mexico, Arizona, southern Utah, and more recently southern Nevada. 

Every year it seems I see more and more Indigo Buntings here, to the point where I no longer feel as confident identifying Buntings that I only hear singing and do not see.  I have now had this experience several times: I hear a Bunting song, the notes seem very paired, and relatively slow for a Laz. So naturally, I start thinking Indigo, and I spend up to an hour tracking these birds down ... and what do I find but a beautiful rosy-chested, white-wing-barred, brilliant-electric-blue-male Lazuli Bunting.  After accepting that some bunting songs just cannot be confidently identified without a visual, “unknown Bunting” has become a regular on my checklists.

 

In search of the elusive Lazdigo Bunting ... Success!

Lazuli Bunting, Ned Bohman

 

Both buntings prefer to breed in edge habitat; often in riparian areas, and prefer to nest low in shrubs.  They both eat seeds and fruits throughout the year with an increase in arthropod consumption during breeding season. They both forage from ground level up to 15 meters off the ground.  Both sing conspicuously from the tops of shrubs such as willows, and commonly produce 2 broods per season. Essentially these two species occupy very similar ecological niches and they coexist largely because they are separated by range.  There is only a small amount of overlap in both breeding and winter ranges of the species currently, but this seems to be changing. Where their breeding ranges do overlap, hybrids occur.  (Stay tuned for a future post on hybridization between these bunting species!)

This is one of the fun observations that result from birding the same locations time after time: there is always the opportunity to see and learn new things. Whether it is as simple as a new behavior for a species you are intimately familiar with, or spotting a rare vagrant during migration; whether you are confirming breeding of a secretive species, seeing a species for the first time, or seeing a new species at a particular location.  But it doesn’t just afford these opportunities to observe new things, it also allows you to track changes as they occur on the landscape over time … like our Indigo Buntings becoming more common in Nevada. I consider us lucky to be in a part of the world where both of these beautiful birds occur!

Spring has sprung!

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Spring is here and now it finally feels like it! With the lingering wintery weather and crazy social conditions, it has hardly felt like it. But today it is 75 degrees and my resident Mockingbird is singing his little heart out. For now, I can forget about being cooped up at home, because my yard birds are so busy! I have been enjoying sitting outside listening to this Mockingbird’s mimicry. His song is easy to pick out because he doesn’t use any original phrases, every element of his song is taken from things he has heard in his surroundings, and he repeats these in phrases of 3, constantly changing and rotating between sounds. 

 

Northern Mockingbird, Ned Bohman

It is fun to identify what he is mimicking, and then to use these clues to try to decipher the places he has been and who he has been hanging out with. He has been singing a lot of different Ruby-crowned Kinglet song phrases, plenty of California Scrub-Jay screams, and lately he has been adding phrases that I can only interpret as car alarms! I watch him as he sings from atop the ornamental Trees-of-Heaven in my backyard. But the story doesn’t end with a raucous male Mockingbird serenading my neighborhood. A second silent bird seems to be following him around.  Based on their behavior I assume this to be a female and potential suitor for my resident copy-cat. As I sit here, I hear another Northern Mockingbird begin to sing a few blocks to my west, I wonder if this silent bird I have been watching is in fact female, and if she has chosen her mate yet.

This time of year most birds are thinking about their biological reason for existence: reproduction.  If you watch and listen to the birds in your yard you can easily pick up on these cues.  You may have noticed the early mornings are a bit noisier lately, this is because male songbirds are advertising and attempting to attract mates.  They use their song to defend the territory from other males, and they also sing to attract females. If you are able to watch them for a while, you may be lucky enough to observe other behaviors associated with breeding.  

If you see a bird carrying something in its bill, pay attention to where it goes and what it does with its load. It could be carrying material with which to construct its nest. During this season of courtship males may bring their prospective mate an attractive food item to demonstrate their prowess. For example, male flycatchers will often bring their mates big showy insects like butterflies and dragonflies, presumably to impress or to demonstrate their hunting capability.  Later in the season, they will be bringing food to feed hungry females stuck on the nest incubating eggs. After this, the eggs will become nestlings that will need to be fed constantly. Being a bird parent is a busy business, and involves a lot of food-carrying!

It is now a few hours later, and while I am strolling around the block, I see a Northern Mockingbird hop into a dense hedgerow with a mouth full of dried grass stems. To the field-trained eye, this behavior is clearly associated with nest-building. This particular hedgerow is about 100 yards from my house, so I wonder if this bird is one of the pair I have been watching in my Tree-of-Heaven. Now that I have discovered the location of a nest, I can pay attention to various clues to tell me if the Mockingbirds in my yard are the same ones using my neighbor’s hedgerow. I will start to cue in on which direction the birds come and go from, I will listen for how close other Mockingbirds are, and if I am lucky I will be able to follow one from my yard to my neighbor’s. By paying attention to these little things, I am able to interpret so much about the birds that share the neighborhood with me.

You can do the same thing in your yard, if you notice a particular bird hangs around a lot, stay put and watch it for a while.  Maybe you will get the chance to see it carry some fruit from your ornamental shrub to its mate that is waiting just around the corner.  Maybe it has even decided your yard has enough resources to sustain its brood this year. By paying attention to the subtle things they are doing, you can learn a lot about them and their world. At the end of the season you may even be lucky enough to see them toting a brood of clumsy, fuzzy, fledglings around the yard!

- Ned

Grasshopper Sparrows!

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While conducting field work this past breeding season, my randomly generated IMBCR plot found me in Northern Nevada’s Owyhee Desert.  IMBCR stands for Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions, and is a program developed by the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies in 2007.  Since then, a number of organizations have collaborated with the Bird Conservancy to conduct these surveys across much of the American West.  Each breeding season these surveys are completed from North Dakota to West Texas, Colorado to California, Washington to Arizona, and many places in between.  Three years ago, GBBO joined this partnership, and began surveys in Nevada, Arizona, and California.  The large scope of these standardized surveys creates a powerful tool to monitor birds at a regional level, including conservation priority species across the breadth of their ranges.

 

So back to the Owyhee Desert, where I’m driving roads that haven’t seen traffic in who knows how long.  After finding a newly-eroded canyon through my access road, I nearly gave up on this survey, but Ben (my survey partner, who was doing a nearby Nevada Bird Count transect) and I finally ended up finding a navigable alternative and got to camp well after dark.  When I woke up, I was in a landscape that I didn’t know existed in Nevada.  As far as I could see was lush perennial grassland, several species of grass, waist-high Great Basin Wild Rye among them.  My first impression as I started walking from camp was the almost deafening chorus of Western Meadowlarks. 

Grasshopper Sparrow photographed elsewhere, some years later, by Ned Bohman

Nearby NBC transect surveyed by Ben

It wasn’t until minute 2 of my second point that I heard it, almost dismissible as insect noise, this quiet, mechanical “tsk-tsk-tzzzzz”.  At first I did pass it off as a Grasshopper, but it was so regular and a little too loud, and then it clicked. Grasshopper SPARROW! After nearly 10 minutes of staking out this particular cluster of bunchgrass, I finally saw him and my suspicions were confirmed. Tucked just below the highest point of the grass was a small, squat, flat-headed, relatively large-billed sparrow cocking his head back and singing his insect-like song. 

As my survey went on I encountered several more, and by the end of the morning I had conservatively counted 11 singing males.  This species has been on my radar ever since I heard tales a few years ago of these guys in northern and eastern Nevada, but I had never come across them.  Jean Linsdale, back in 1951, reported them as a summer resident in small numbers in the northeast part of the state, but records have been sparse.  Not surprising then, when I finally found them, I was in one of the most inaccessible parts of Nevada. The combination of distance from town and rough roads (where roads exist at all!) makes the Owyhee Desert pretty much off limits to most Nevada Birders. Given all this, and factoring in annual variation, it is hard to tell what is actually going on up there. Maybe there are always loads of Grasshopper Sparrows singing their hearts out in the Owyhee Desert with no humans to hear them, or maybe we had a bonanza year because of higher precipitation levels and greater growth of grasses and forbs.  We will be surveying there again in 2020, so we’ll report back then!

Grasslands on IMBCR plot

Grasslands on IMBCR plot

The Owyhee Desert is not the only part of the state that is largely inaccessible and has unique habitat.  With such a large area and such concentrated populations, Nevada has long been one of, if not the most under-birded state.  This combined with other factors led to the creation of Great Basin Bird Observatory and the first edition of the Nevada Breeding Bird Atlas 20 years ago….and 20 years later there are still new things to learn about Nevada’s avian community. So for those who are willing to get off the beaten path and explore a bit, who knows what you might find!

For those who are unfamiliar and/or curious, the Owyhee Desert is Northeast of Winnemucca, in between the Santa Rosa and Independence Mountain Ranges. It sprawls into impressive canyon lands in Idaho and Oregon to the North, and peters out as it hits the Owyhee Bluffs to the south, about 30 miles north of I-80.  It can be accessed from the west via Paradise Valley, but the primary entry points are on the east side through the Duck Creek Indian Reservation and the Town of Owyhee or by Wilson Creek Reservoir from the Midas-Golconda Road.

- Ned Bohman

 

Birding in the Ruby Mountains, July 2019

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At the end of the field season, we held a public field trip to the Ruby Mountains.  We all had a great weekend, camping and birding in Lamoille Canyon, and even saw the target birds that we set out to see! Check out our eBird report here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/270752.

 

The group getting started on the hike to Island Lake

 
 

Taking time for some botanizing on the way up

We made it up to the beautiful Island Lake cirque at 9:00, and a few members of the group had gotten an early start and were already at the upper cirque by then. It was not long before the most bird-like rock any of us had ever seen was spotted.  Perched perfectly at the top of the ridgeline with a pale head and brown body, a few people saw it move, some even saw its feathers ruffle in the wind. We were so pleased; we had spotted our Himalayan Snowcock within minutes of getting to the cirque. After everyone had gotten a look, we decided to hike up closer to the snowfields to see if we could see any Black Rosy-Finches. It was not until 15 minutes after we had spotted the Himalayan Snow-Rock, that we determined our bird was, in fact, just a rock.  We did not let that take the wind out of our sails though, we continued on to the upper cirque and got to enjoy the sound of a few distant snowcock calling. We met up with the other members of the group here, and they excitedly asked us if we saw the birds they were pointing out to us. When we confusedly said that we hadn’t, they informed us they were watching us scan the ridgeline while they were watching 2 snowcock and jumping up and down and pointing trying to get our attention!

Folks arrived on Friday evening, and we enjoyed a pot-luck dinner while getting to know everyone. Once the campfire went out, everyone went to bed early to prepare for Saturday’s hike. The plan for Saturday morning was to start hiking up to Island Lake at 7 in hopes of catching views of Himalayan Snowcock at the top, before it got too late. 

By 6:30 Saturday morning everyone was raring to go chase down these elusive Asian chickens.  We left camp shortly thereafter and got to hiking.  We were greeted by singing a Lazuli Bunting and Fox Sparrow at the trailhead as well as a not-so-cooperative Dusky Flycatcher sallying about the aspen along the start of the trail.  The birds on the hike up were quite active, with Rufous and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds enjoying the abundant horsemint and Indian paintbrush, while singing MacGillivray’s Warblers and Green-tailed Towhees provided a nice soundtrack to hike to. At one point 6 Clark’s Nutcrackers stopped in to pose for us on a very picturesque snag. The birding along the hike may have delayed our arrival at the top where we could find Himalayan Snowcock, but was too enjoyable to rush!

 

Some of the group at Island Lake

At least somebody saw the target birds! We remained in the upper cirque for about an hour without seeing any actual snowcock before deciding to hike down. So while only 2 of the group actually saw snowcock this day, we all heard them call, and enjoyed a place with near-unmatched beauty in Nevada. We finished the walk with 33 species, and returned to camp for lunch.

 

If you look carefully you can pick out the elusive Himalayan Snow-Rock on the right side

 

After lunch, we went to South Fork State Recreation Area to see if we could spot some water birds.  This turned out to be more productive than we initially thought, yet not so riveting to keep us there for more than half-an-hour. Wilson’s Phalarope of various ages in varying plumages kept as entertained, as well as a juvenile American Coot that had a few of us scratching our heads. We made a group decision to go try for Bobolink before heading back to camp for the BBQ.  We left the reservoir with 16 species, and headed for the ranch lands of Lamoille.  After getting there it took just 5 minutes to spot a flock of Bobolink across the field. We conservatively counted 12 birds. The females and juveniles were most cooperative, the males only let us get brief views as they flitted about the tall grass. It was nonetheless enjoyable to be on the breeding grounds of such a range-restricted species in the state.  Shortly after 5:00 we headed back to camp to chat about the day and enjoy Hamburgers and Hotdogs. We left Lamoille with 12 species, including a few Wilson’s Snipe that were hanging out in the cattle corral.

Once back at camp, Barbeque fixings were already underway. The Barbeque was a great success.  We all had a lovely time chatting and enjoying charcoal-grilled burgers and dogs.  We got a campfire going, and got to planning for Sunday and making S’mores. Since we had diverged a bit from the schedule, and saw our Bobolink ahead of schedule, and some folks wanted to try again for snowcock, we had some figuring to do.  Most folks wanted to do their own thing and have a leisurely hike on the trails around camp. Some even enjoyed Thomas Canyon so much that they booked an extra night to explore the area some more. So we decided that a few of us would try again for snowcock, this time a bit earlier.  While everyone else would enjoy Thomas Canyon at their own pace. Now that we had a game plan, everyone enjoyed their final marshmallows and we doused the fire and headed to bed.

 

We began the hike before 6 AM this time, in hopes that our birds would be vocalizing. We also did not stop for birds on the way up, we were determined to see snowcock this time.  As soon as we got to Island Lake, we began hiking to the upper cirque. Once there, we hoped we would hear snowcock vocalizing. We did not, but after about 10 minutes Mike had spotted birds on the ridgeline. When we got the scope on them we all determined that they were in fact moving (definitely not rocks this time), and that there were 4 of them.  We all got fantastic looks at the snowcocks and watched as they slowly climbed up and over the ridgeline. After the last of these 4 disappeared we watched another and another pop out of the alpine vegetation onto the rocks of the ridgeline. Before we headed down we agreed that we saw 9 snowcock climbing around on the rocky ridgeline!

The group admiring the majestic Snow-Rock while Chris and Rosie helplessly attempted to point out actual Snowcock from above

 

The trail to Island Lake

 

Once back to camp we didn’t have much time before we had to check out of the sites.  So we made the rounds and bid everyone farewell. All in all, we had a great weekend meeting new friends, enjoying camp meals, and seeing good birds (Even if a few of the group have to change their life list to say “Himalayan Snow-Rock”). It was great to see everyone coming out to bird with us and enjoy the Ruby Mountains.

Thank you for coming out, Ellen and Adib Alaware, Tina Nappe, Bill Bowers, Nicole and Mike Carion, Judy Duffy, Don Van Patten, Chris and Rosie Howard!!

-Ned Bohman

Surveying Birds in Arizona's Uplands

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Early in the spring of 2018, we conducted the first season of Arizona Uplands surveys, a project with Arizona Game & Fish as part of a larger study on the impacts of feral burros (donkeys) on Arizona wildlife and ecosystems. Burros were imported to Arizona as early as the 1600s, and eventually established feral populations as they escaped or were abandoned by prospectors in the 1800s. Equids have a different tooth structure than native ungulates, so can have heavy impacts on native vegetation that have evolved for approximately 10 thousand years in their absence. Feral burros can also compete with, and in many cases outcompete, native animals for food and water sources. As such they are the focus of management and study by federal and state agencies. Our goal with these bird surveys is to investigate the impact of burros on breeding bird populations.

 
 

Feral Burros, photo by Lauren Harter

Surveys were conducted in two areas, the Havasu Herd Management Area in western Arizona and the Lake Pleasant Herd Management Area north of Phoenix. We surveyed 60 plots in each area, with plots including areas with and without burros, with and without surface water, and other variables taken into consideration.

Over the course of the season in these 120 surveys, we documented a total of 128 bird species. Surveys took us to new areas for all five seasoned surveyors, from Lake Pleasant; Castle Hot Springs; and flats around Wittmann; to the Bill Williams River; Cactus Plain, Buckskin, and Needles wilderness areas; and the difficult to access Mohave Mountains. Once we have obtained a few more years of data, we hope to be able to inform future burro management based on good science.

- Lauren

In Search of the Elusive Desert Thrashers

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Walking through thrasher country, photo by Michelle Tobin

The Desert Thrasher Survey season began this year at the end of March and just wrapped up a few weeks ago in mid-June. Nevada’s team is part of a larger network of governmental agencies, non-profits, and volunteers (The Desert Thrasher Working Group, DTWG). The DTWG is dedicated to improving our understanding of these enigmatic Thrashers, and recently has developed a standardized survey protocol for these birds. After much deliberation the DTWG decided on an area search survey approach, creating survey plots 300x300m to be surveyed within 40 minutes. This protocol was based off of surveys conducted by Point Blue Conservation Science. By conducting practice surveys we believed that at this size within a desert landscape the surveyor should be able to detect a thrasher on the plot and survey multiple plots in one morning/field day. To allow for variation in detection as well as arrival times for Bendire’s thrashers (Le Conte’s thrashers are a non-migratory species) we decided to survey each of our plots three times during the breeding season.

 

Bendire’s Thrasher by Jen Tobin

The 2018 surveys spanned the entire known U.S. range of the LeConte’s and Bendire’s thrashers. Surveys were conducted in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Approximately, 450 plots were surveyed across these states.

LeConte’s Thrasher nest, by Michelle Tobin

 

We are currently in the process of entering all our data from the season, but preliminary numbers suggest that our thrasher counts are higher than last season. We recorded at least 16 observations of Bendire’s thrashers this year, which appears to be double the number we observed in 2017. For LeConte’s thrashers, to date, we have entered 165 records for these birds. However, this represents multiple visits to plots and therefore could be an inflated number of actual territories. We hope to finish up data entry by the end of June, and have more concrete numbers and an analysis of our habitat data by the end of the summer.

 - Dawn

In total Nevada surveyed 126 plots:112 which were part of the region-wide survey effort, 12 were exploratory surveys, and 6 plots were revisits to areas where thrashers were found last season. As part of the survey protocol each of the 118 plots (112 region-wide and 6 resurvey plots) plots were surveyed three times throughout the season. Due to time constraints the exploratory plots could only be surveyed two times during the season. Therefore, our total survey effort for the season was 378 surveys.

In addition, to surveying for birds on each plot habitat assessments were also conducted at the plot center. We used a point center quarter method to evaluate the habitat. In addition, we recorded information on fruit-bearing shrubs, Yucca species, ground cover and composition, and measures of disturbance and invasive species.

In 2018, in Nevada, we also began our adopt-a-thrasher program. This program was designed so that volunteers could revisit known Bendire’s Thrasher territories and document presence/absence of this species. We focused specifically on Bendire’s thrashers, because this species has been very difficult to capture on surveys, and multiple questions still remain about the basic life history, phenology, and occurrence of this thrasher.

 

LeConte’s Thrasher nestlings by Michelle Tobin