Dead of Winter Speaker Series Bonus – Pinyon Jays with Great Basin Bird Observatory

Pinyon Jays are unique corvids with fascinating and complex life histories. In recent years, their long-term declines have led to increased attention from managers and a petition for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Pinyon Jay conservation is now at a critical inflection point, with decisions pending that could influence the species’ trajectory for years and decades to come. Ensuring that these decisions are informed by good data and an adequate understanding of Pinyon Jay ecology is fundamentally important for their ultimate success. Community Science can make a meaningful and important contribution to this process. In this presentation, John Boone and Ned Bohman of the Great Basin Bird Observatory (GBBO) will update attendees on the latest in Pinyon Jay science and conservation and describe plans for using the Pinyon Jay Community Science data set to inform and to positively influence Pinyon Jay conservation through an upcoming analysis that will be undertaken in collaboration with Cornell Lab of Ornithology beginning in late 2025. From its inception in late 2021, the Pinyon Jay Community Science program has generated over 4,000 records submitted from 24 different volunteer groups across the western United States. In this presentation, we will encourage participants to redouble their efforts in 2025 to create the most robust possible data set for the upcoming analysis, with a goal of reaching the milestone of 7,500 records in 2025. 

John Boone is GBBO’s Research Coordinator and Ned Bohman is the Outreach Coordinator. Both of them have worked extensively with Pinyon Jays.