Phoenix Urban Waterbird Survey

Saturday, January 18

See more info here.

Volunteers Needed for Thrasher Surveys

A recording of the training can be found here. The first portion of the video covers updates to current thrasher conservation and the review of thrasher ID and habitat. At 33:22 minutes, the protocol and use of field maps are discussed. The training documents and sound recordings can be found HERE. 

Written instruction on the use of field maps can be found here.

This week's Expedition Details: 

WHEN: Saturday, January 11th. 

TIME and MEET-UP LOCATION: We will meet at the Pilot truck stop on the north side of the I-10 at the Vicksburg exit. The address is 48286 Vicksburg Rd, Salome, AZ 85348

What to bring: Wear comfortable layered clothing, sturdy shoes, and a hat. Don't forget water and snacks. If you have a speaker you can bring that too. Please be sure to have your field maps app and a GPS app to capture coordinates as a backup before Saturday.

If you noted an interest in being added to the carpooling list from where you will be departing and traveling to the meetup site, please use this Google form found HERE to connect with someone for carpool purposes

Contact Info:

Please email Dara at fieldexp@azfo.org for any questions or comments concerning the Saturday, January 11th field day. Participants will be organized in groups of 2-3 people and locations. We will have printed maps as needed and finalize groups at the meetup location before going out to the field site. 

For any questions about the use of field maps for this expedition please email Dawn at fletcher@gbbo.org

SITE CHANGE. As mentioned earlier we will no longer be surveying the site West of Gila Bend. We will however be visiting the 2 sites West of Phoenix along I-10. Please see the following link with the sites outlined on this Google map link found HERE. 

If you know of anyone else interested in this upcoming expedition or future expeditions please have them check out the AZFO expedition website page at https://www.azfo.org/fieldexpeditions.

Please let me know if you have any questions. On behalf of the AZFO Expedition Committee, Great Basin Bird Observatory, and the Nongame Bird Program at AZ Game & Fish Department we appreciate your help with the upcoming expedition!

The Great Basin Bird Observatory and the Arizona Game and Fish Department will deploy lightweight GPS transmitters on a small sample of Bendire's and LeConte's thrashers to track the movements of these interesting birds and to understand how they respond to the installation of industrial-scale solar facilities.

Volunteers will help mark the territories of thrashers, which is essential for capturing and tagging them. Target areas for this project include Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in Arizona (Gila Bend, Buckeye, Lake Havasu) and Nevada (Pahrump). We will conduct surveys along transects on roads and washes, utilizing call playback and opportunistic searches. Data collection will be streamlined using the Field Maps app.

Online training Tuesday 7 January 2025 7-8PM

Surveys: January 11 and February 2, 2025

Detailed Expedition Description, CLICK HERE

TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE