Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Birds of Nevada's new Basin and Range National Monument

Kirch Wildlife Management Area, just north of Basin & Range N.M.

Thinking about the recently-created Basin and Range National Monument, I pulled up a map to see what bird survey data we had from the area.  Somewhat as a surprise, given we have almost a thousand point count transects across Nevada, we don’t have any transects within the Monument itself.  However, we did have a few breeding bird atlas blocks there, so I thought I’d summarize what we found in them.  

For those who are thinking about exploring Nevada’s most recent National Monument, there are also some great places to look for birds just a bit north of the Monument, at Kirch Wildlife Management Area (shown on the map linked above), and a little bit south of the Monument, at Key Pittman WMA (Hiko) and Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge (Alamo).  

So, below are some of the birds you could find on the Basin and Range National Monument during the breeding season!  (Where we were able to confirm breeding, that has been noted.) 

Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Golden Eagle
Mourning Dove (confirmed)
Western Screech-Owl
Burrowing Owl
Short-eared Owl
Common Poorwill
White-throated Swift
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Prairie Falcon (confirmed)
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Gray Flycatcher
Say’s Phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike (confirmed)
Gray Vireo
Plumbeous Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Pinyon Jay
Common Raven (confirmed)
Horned Lark (confirmed)
Violet-green Swallow (confirmed)
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Bushtit
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren
Bewick’s Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (confirmed)
Crissal Thrasher
Sage Thrasher (confirmed)
Northern Mockingbird (confirmed)
Orange-crowned Warbler
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Spotted Towhee (confirmed)
Brewer’s Sparrow (confirmed)
Vesper Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow (confirmed)
Sagebrush Sparrow (confirmed)
White-crowned Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Western Meadowlark (confirmed)
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock’s Oriole
Hooded Oriole
House Finch

Happy November!
Jen