Nine ECBA volunteers signed up for training in late March 2025 to help the US Fish and Wildlife Service conduct field surveys of Pinyon Jays (PJs). Both the training indoors in the classroom and the training in the field were conducted by Ned Bohman of the Great Basin Bird Observatory, Reno, Nevada.
These surveys that have been conducted over the last seven weeks are helping Claudia Funari (Biologist USFWS) document where PJs are and are not nesting in Central Oregon, particularly in sites within an arm’s reach of Sisters and Bend. This effort is helping us all learn more about the ecological needs of the Central Oregon PJs and could potentially help protect them in the future.
Although the surveys are still in progress until May 15, each site will have been visited 3 times by each volunteer. So far, only one site has had observed nesting, while two other sites had observed PJs flying or foraging within them.
At the one nesting site in Ponderosa Pines, the birds were observed gathering nesting materials. Additional observations at other sites are being made by other Agency biologists that also attended the same training.
The good news is that courting behavior and even nestlings were observed at some of their sites. Further surveys of physical attributes of the nest sites will be conducted by USFWS after nesting has been fully completed.
Additional surveys of PJ sitings and behavior may be needed by volunteers in the future, so stay tuned. Future updates will provide the final findings at this site. ECBA members who have questions or are interested in helping with future efforts, please send an email to ecba@ecbirds.org and write PJ Surveys on subject line.
Laurel Collins
March 25, 2025
