Searching for Black Rail Records in Nevada

The official checklist for Nevada is maintained by the Nevada Bird Records Committee (NBRC), which also maintains a list of species considered rare enough in the state to require documentation, called the "review list". There are still a handful of "review species" on the checklist for which there are no NBRC-endorsed records. One of those species is the Black Rail, and that's where GBBO and its contacts might be able to help.

There have been several reports of Black Rails encountered during surveys in southern Nevada. However, there has been no reviewable documentation for this species provided to the NBRC. Of course, seeing, and especially photographing, a Black Rail is no easy task.  But modern technology has provided a relatively straightforward way for someone encountering a Black Rail to document it satisfactorily using video available on most cameras and cell phones to record diagnostic vocalizations. And HEARING a Black Rail is a heck of a lot easier than seeing one!

So this is a plea to all of you who are out there in Black Rail habitat.  Should you encounter one, vocalizing on its own or in response to playback used in surveying, please try to record the diagnostic vocalizations.  Submission of such recordings to the NBRC, along with location, date, circumstances of observation, and names and contact information of the observer(s), would very likely permit an endorsement by the committee, assuring that Black Rail remains on the state checklist.

Martin Meyers

Secretary, NBRC

email: NevadaBirdRecords --at-- GBBO.ORG

Winter Guests Ready to Leave Western Nevada

Golden-crowned Sparrow sporting new band

Golden-crowned Sparrows nest in the western half of Alaska and in the northwestern provinces of Canada. In winter, however, people living along the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. states and in far-western Nevada can enjoy their pretty song and perky foraging behaviors. Their winter range is often underestimated in field guides, and based on GBBO’s small bird banding project north of Reno, they remain throughout the winter months once they find a good spot in western Nevada. 

If you live in an area where Golden-crowned Sparrows winter, you can attract them by planting dense, tall shrubs such as sumac, Apache plume, currants, and wild roses. They also make frequent use of bird baths and platform feeders, where they are usually surrounded by many of their cousins, the Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow. To view a map of sightings of the Golden-crowned Sparrow in recent years, visit the eBird website here. 

- Elisabeth

Exploring Ash Meadows & Death Valley

Last weekend, the Crescent Dunes field crew took a birding expedition down to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and Death Valley. It was an exciting time to be out there with the wildflowers in bloom and newly arriving spring migrants, some a little ahead of schedule. One particularly lucky blossom was that of the rare Panamint Daisy, Enceliopsis covillei, which is an Inyo county endemic. It may not look like much from pictures, but as Josh indicated, the “flowers were as large as a finger-spread hand”.

One of the highlights of the trip was climbing Telescope Peak, an ascent from 8,000 to over 11,000 ft. Here the crew was able to spot Mountain Chickadees, Cassin’s Finches, Pinyon Jays, an American Kestrel, Violet-green Swallows, both Mountain and Western Bluebirds, Pygmy Nuthatches, Clark’s Nutcrackers, Pine Siskins, and a male and female Red Crossbill. The summit offered an extraordinary view of the valley. 

Jenna, Josh & Wanda on Telescope Peak

Seeing the pupfish at Ash Meadows was another high point of the trip, along with hearing a Bell’s Vireo--five days ahead of the previous earliest record! They also got to hear their first-of-season Common Poorwill, and see a variety of lizards, such as Chuckwalla and Leopard Lizards. Other species seen during the trip include: Greater Yellowlegs, American Avocets, Northern Shovelers, Gadwall, Phainopepla, a Loggerhead Shrike, Sage Thrasher, Prairie Falcon, Chukar, White-throated Swifts, Anna’s Hummingbird, Western Scrub-jay, Bushtits, Varied Thrush, Lesser Goldfinch, Rock Wrens, Common Ravens, American Pipits, a Killdeer, and Lewis’s Woodpeckers.

To see more pictures, check out the GBBO Facebook Page!

-Kelly

Photos were all taken by Josh Lefever and Jenna Daub-emore – thanks for sharing them with us!

On Golden Eagles

GBBO is continuing to work with the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to better understand the habitat requirements of Golden Eagles, and to generate guidance on how to best avoid and mitigate the potential impacts of renewable energy development.  

In 2015, GBBO will be collecting data to support a major habitat-quality modeling project overseen by FWS.  More specifically, we will be comparing the results of different nest survey types to generate “calibration factors” that will enable data from many different field projects to be more consistently and effectively integrated and analyzed. Additionally, we will be collecting data on nest distribution in previously unsurveyed parts of the state to validate predictions generated by the FWS model.  

In the near future, this work should allow land management agencies to make more informed decisions about the parts of the Nevada landscape that are especially important to Golden Eagles.

- John

Migration: A Yellow-rumped Tale

"Myrtle Warbler" male banded on the same day

One of the great joys in any bird banding project is getting recaptures, and gaining that extra piece of insight into the lives of those individuals and species.  

I just heard the details about one of our recaptured birds from last spring’s banding efforts at The Nature Conservancy’s McCarran Ranch – a Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler.  Ken Voget, who was banding, found her in a mixed flock of Myrtle and Audubon-type Yellow-rumped Warblers – it turns out she had been banded in late September 2012, near Imperial, Saskatchewan … and a year and a half later, stopped over in Nevada on her way north!

Happy travels,

Jen