Warner Wetlands Bird Monitoring
Alan Majchrowicz Website
voices
Ryan “Dirtmonger” Sylva, ODT thru-hiker 2017
Ryan “Dirtmonger” Sylva, ODT thru-hiker 2017
“To me, it’s a thru-hike in an isolated place that promotes a conversation in land management, ethics and usage. Hiking across a vast and remote landscape and having a random and chance encounter with cowboys and hunters to discuss how ‘all of us’ should treat the land, how we all have a responsibility, no matter our political leanings, really showed me the pulse of the people in rural areas, especially here out west.”
listen
Great Horned Owls and Western Screech Owls
Great Horned Owls and Western Screech Owls
voices
Ursula K. Le Guin on ONDA
Ursula K. Le Guin on ONDA
“Nothing in conservation work is ever uncomplicated! But I’m proud of ONDA for working on that conversation, being neighborly, trying to include the human landscape in the natural one as truly part of what is to be honored, protected, and saved.”
Ursula K. Le Guin, from the short essay Concerning a Wilderness
Organizer: Stewardship Team
Project Timeline: 5/24/2023 through 9/30/2023
Region: Warner Wetlands
Difficulty Rating: Level 2: Moderate
Volunteers Needed: 20 volunteers
Please note, for this project you will need to have moderate to advanced birding identification skills. If you are confident identifying birds by sight and sound and have participated in multi-site bird counts before, you’d be well suited for this project. Less experienced birders are welcome to accompany a more experienced birder, but at least one member of each volunteer team must be an experienced birder. If you have any questions, please contact us.
About the place
This project takes place on the traditional lands of the Numu, or Northern Paiute people, the Burns Paiute Tribe, and the the Klamath Tribes, including the Klamaths, the Modocs and the Yahooskin. This region was and remains an important fishing, hunting, and gathering area for Indigenous people. After being forced to leave their lands following the Bannock War, members of the Burns Paiute tribe returned and reestablished their community in the Harney Valley.
The Warner Wetlands encompass more than 50,000 acres managed by BLM in Lake County. A primary management goal for the majority of the Warner Wetlands is the conservation of a diverse community of birds dependent on wetland habitats. This community includes several species of duck and sensitive species including yellow rails, long-billed curlews, tri-colored blackbirds, and Franklin’s gulls.
About the project
This project is a partnership with the Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) and Lakeview BLM District. Based in Northern California, the Institute for Bird Populations enables science-based conservation of species and habitats by studying the abundance, demography, and ecology of birds and other wildlife.
This is a wildlife monitoring project
An IBP biologist will initially be present onsite to train the volunteers but, once trained, volunteers will work independently in pairs or in teams of 3. Volunteers will work from sunrise until early afternoon, visiting a series of pre-determined points to document all the birds seen and heard at these locations. Volunteers will record their observations as checklists within the eBird app, and will provide checklist links to ONDA and IBP.
Timing
Volunteers will attend a training on site either May 24 or June 3 and then will monitor for one or multiple days after that. The priority is to monitor between May 24 and June 10, and any later season trips are welcome as additional data.
Difficulty
This trip will require walking, standing and monitoring for long periods of time.
Registration
An ONDA registration application and medical form are required for this project.
Project Details
All the information you will need to know about this independent project will be emailed to you after your registration is complete. Each project page has extensive information about the project; please be prepared to spend 1-2 hours reviewing this information prior to heading out on your project, the good news is that time spent reviewing and preparing for your trip all counts towards your volunteer hours.