Welcome
Great Basin Bird Observatory (GBBO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats in the Great Basin and the northern Mojave Desert. This mission shall be accomplished through partnerships, public education, and applied research.
News
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Nevada Comprehensive Bird Conservation Plan – Review Draft
As an exciting milestone in GBBO’s history, we have now completed the first review draft of the Nevada Comprehensive Bird Conservation Plan, which can be viewed here.
The plan features 74 conservation priority and four special status species, as well as 17 habitat accounts that serve to inform land managers of our current knowledge about status and conservation needs of birds and their habitats in Nevada. Many thanks to the Nevada birding community for contributing wonderful bird photos and to all members of the bird conservation community who contributed to the plan.
In the next month, we will be reviewing and adding much information to the plan and welcome all well-documented information that would further our understanding of conservation issues. The final plan is scheduled for release later this spring (target: May).
Results of Decision Support Tool Workshop, Reno, October 2009
GBBO and the University of Nevada, Reno, hosted a workshop Collaborative Decision Support Tools for Bird Conservation in October of 2009. Thirty-five colleagues, mostly from bird observatories and similar organizations, discussed recent advances and current needs for quantitative Decision Support Tools and Frameworks in the field of bird conservation. The minutes from the meeting can be reviewed here.
Great Basin Birds Update
Due to a recent low submission rate, we delayed Volume 11 until this spring. The volume will feature articles on Burrowing Owls and updates from various ornithological initiatives and conservation groups around the state. Our members can expect to receive the new volume approximately in May.
As a service to our members and the public, we are now making PDF files available of all articles and volumes of Great Basin Birds up to 2004 (Volume 7). More recent issues will be made available on an annual basis. More details here.
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Elf Owl Detectability
In the spring of 2010, GBBO will begin a new project designed to determine factors that influence whether or not, and how well, Elf Owls can be detected during inventory and monitoring.
This study will involve capturing Elf Owls at the Bill Williams River, AZ, and fitting several individuals with radiotransmitters in order to follow their movements and responses to playing recordings of their calls. The project is funded by the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program. More details on the project can be found here.
Colonial Waterbirds in Nevada:
GBBO seeks the help of the birding public in locating nesting colonies throughout Nevada of the following birds in 2010 (look for nestingevidence between April and July):
Island nesters:
American White Pelican (other than Pyramid Lake)
Double-crested Cormorant
Caspian Tern
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Marsh nesters:
Brood locations (nests very delicate and should not be disturbed):
Western Grebe
Clark’s Grebe
Eared GrebeColony locations:
Black Tern
Forster’s Tern
White-faced Ibis
Franklin’s Gull
Tree nesters:
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Cattle Egret
Please submit location (preferably with GPS coordinates, otherwise township/range/section), number of active nests/broods, date observed, and your name by email (ammon AT gbbo.org) or phone (775-323-4226) as soon as possible after your birding trip.December eNewsletter
The 3rd edition of our eNewsletter has been sent out to everyone on the subscription list. View it online here.