Pinyon Jay Community Science Project – CFO Introductory Presentation

Pinyon Jays are iconic, but declining, members of the pinyon-juniper woodland community across the intermountain west, including Colorado. Colorado Field Ornithologists (CFO) is collaborating with Great Basin Bird Observatory and other partners across six states on the observatory’s Pinyon Jay Community Science Project.  CFO needs your assistance collecting data across the state. 

Why Map Pinyon Jay Habitat & Activity?

Pinyon Jays have been declining in population range-wide. From 1967–2015, population levels fell an estimated 83.5%. In 2022, Defenders of Wildlife petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to have the species federally listed as threatened or endangered species, triggering a 90-day review period. 

In response to this, Great Basin Bird Observatory and members of the Pinyon Jay Working Group, founded in 2017, have been conducting research on Pinyon Jays and are now attempting a comprehensive survey of appropriate habitat across the western US.

Colorado Field Ornithologists is now seeking your help to survey Pinyon Jays in our state. The Pinyon Jay Community Science Project enlists volunteers as community scientists to monitor habitat usage and document Pinyon Jay behavior.

Once you sign up, you can collect data whenever you are out birding or make a special trip to explore a new part of the state!

Interested in Participating in this Project or Learning More?

On December 15, 2022 John Boone, the Pinyon Jay Community Science Project lead, will speak for 30 minutes about this project, the importance of Pinyon Jays, and how you can participate, with time after for audience questions. The meeting will begin at 7:00 pm MT. Click on the green “Register” button in the top right corner of this screen to register. If you cannot attend, we will record this presentation and post it to our YouTube channel. You can also find the link to this presentation on our Pinyon Jay Community Science Project page.

About the Presenter: John D. Boone received his PhD in Environmental, Population, and Organismal Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, with a specialization in vertebrate ecology. He spent the first ten years of his post-graduate career on the faculty of the University of Nevada, Reno, where his research focused on the ecology of zoonotic diseases, predominantly hantavirus in the western U.S. In 2006, he moved to the Great Basin Bird Observatory, also located in Reno, where over the last 16 years he has led or contributed to nearly 100 applied conservation initiatives, population monitoring programs, and conservation planning initiatives throughout the Western U.S. In recent years, much of his work has focused on Pinyon Jays, management of pinyon-juniper woodlands, and mortality monitoring on renewable energy sites.