Pinyon Pine Cone Surveys with Great Basin Bird Observatory

Topic: Pinyon Pine Cone Surveys in Survey123

Featuring: Kelly Colegrove

Lahontan Audubon Society is coordinating with the Great Basin Bird Observatory (GBBO) in community science projects to help Pinyon Jays. We aren't just tracking Pinyon Jays now!  GBBO recently developed a protocol and Survey123 form for tracking their primary food resource.  Pinyon Jays are dependent upon the energy-rich nuts of the Pinyon Pine. These nuts provide food for Pinyon Jays throughout the winter, and are a valuable resourcce to many other species as well, including humans. The Pinyon Pine tree produces nuts in different amounts each year, and nuts take two years to mature. Sometimes, this results in Mast Years, when trees produce a huge surplus of cones, while in other years, cone production can be quite low.  With Pinyon Jay populations experiencing such steep declines, and Pinyon cone production being low in many recent years, it is of great interest to track productivity of Pinyon Pines. This information will be useful for researchers tracking Pinyon Jay populations, as well as for tracking the health of Pinyon Pine trees in different areas.

GBBO project coordinator, Kelly Colegrove, will be giving this presentation to explain Pinyon cone production and use by Pinyon Jays in more detail. Kelly helped develop both the Pinyon Jay survey protocol, as well as this cone tracking protocol. The presentation will be free, but as always, your donations are greatly appreciated to support our ability to host these events.