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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 12h

Starting work in winter certainly increases the chances of encountering unfavorable road conditions. Sometimes you need someone to pull you out of the mud (& bring you some pie), which is exactly what happened to this team on our 2024 crew. Thanks 775 Off Roading Rescue! #FlashbackFriday #Gratitude

Kind rescuer with field crew in snow, with freed pickup!

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 1d

You can learn more about this program at:

Pinyon Jay Community Science Hub

Great Basin Bird Observatory's Pinyon Jay Community Science HUB, for all things Pinyon Jay! This species is of critical conservation concern, visit this page to learn more about this important volunteer effort.

pinyon-jay-community-science-gbbo.hub.arcgis.com

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 1d

GBBO also runs a Pinyon Jay Community Science Program, and partners with other individuals and groups to collect needed information about Pinyon Jay locations, habitat use, & conservation needs. THANK YOU to the many people who have helped conserve Pinyon Jays through this program!

A massive Pinyon Jay flock flies over Carson City, Nevada, taken by one of our volunteers! Looks like a cloud of tiny black dots silhouetted against an actual cloud.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 2d

Sunset over a Pinyon Jay survey plot east of Tonopah. Gold may not be in those hills, but it's certainly on it!

#GoldenHour #NevadaPinyonJays

Golden hour lighting up distant mountain, seen through pinyon-junipers, with the field truck in the foreground, and mostly blue skies, with wispy clouds.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 3d

Beautiful views from Arizona! #ArizonaPinyonJays

Mountain views, with clouds scudding across blue skies.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 4d

Surveying for Pinyon Jays often leads to other fun wildlife encounters, like this Great Horned Owl! Photo by our intrepid 2025 Nevada Pinyon Jay crew.

Great Horned Owl perched on ground in rocky draw.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 5d

Aren't they neat?! Fascinating, and just so.darn. SMART! Definitely makes studying them more difficult than your average bird :)

Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 5d

In search of Pinyon Jays north of Flagstaff, AZ…. #ArizonaPinyonJays

Walking down a dirt road thorugh pinyon-juniper, under cloudy skies.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 6d

#PinyonJay colonies vary in structure and spacing. In a typical colony, there's only 1 nest per tree, with 30-50ish nests, overall. During the 2024-2025 Arizona surveys, fewer nests were clustered together but instead were scattered throughout the home range. #ArizonaPinyonJays #birds

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 7d

Pinyon Jays are known colony nesters, but there is still a lot to learn about the size and location of their colonies, especially in the southern part of their range. Pinyon Jays have been observed nesting in Ponderosa pine in northern Arizona. #ArizonaPinyonJays

Drainage through ponderosa pine habitat. Ground covered in orangey-brown pine needles, against a cloudy sky.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 8d

Here's a good example of a Pinyon Jay colony site near the Sweetwater Range in #Nevada. In the Great Basin, their nest trees are usually mid-sized and large pinyon pines or junipers (about 12-30’ tree height), but elsewhere, #PinyonJays appear to nest in trees of nearly any size. #NevadaPinyonJays

Pinyon-juniper/sagebrush habitat, against blue skies.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 9d

During the breeding season, males form their own foraging flocks and return to feed the females, who are busy incubating. Surveyors often observe small groups of jays foraging during early-season surveys, and following these birds can help hone in on potential colony site locations.

Two Pinyon Jays perched on a broken branch in the top of a pinyon pine, against a blue sky. Photo by Bobby Wilcox.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 10d

Another snowy survey for our Arizona Pinyon Jay crew. Pinyon Jays are opportunistic and adaptable like many aspects of their biology. They will abandon nesting efforts in persistent inclement weather, delay in harsh winters, and begin early in favorable conditions. #ArizonaPinyonJays

trudging through snow-covered pinyon-juniper habitat, under a deep blue sky

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · 11d

The typical breeding season for Pinyon Jays is March 1st and May 30th, though jays may begin nesting earlier if conditions are favorable.

Pinyon Jay, perched on pinyon, holding twig in its beak - nesting material! Photo by Ned Bohman.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 31

Pinyon Jays have a classic symbiotic relationship with the pinyon pine. Harvesting and caching its seeds serves as an agent of dispersal, and the nuts serve as a rich food resource for the birds, as long as the trees produce more nuts than the birds need each year. Photo by Bobby Wilcox.

Pinyon jay against a blue sky, carrying a nut.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 30

After the snow and subsequent muddy roads, our #Nevada #PinyonJay surveyors journeyed south for their second tour to spend time in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge to explore the Sheep Range. They found themselves traveling through Joshua tree forest, transitioning to pinyon-juniper habitat.

Joshua trees against a partly cloudy sky

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 30

Pinyon Jay lovers and community scientists - we're heading out for a cone survey! If you're in/near the Reno area on August 30th, we'll be leading a cone-counting #communityscience event, as we document the cone crops that are important to so many wildlife species.

Pinyon Jay Community Science: Pinyon Pine Cone survey — Great Basin Bird Observatory

Join GBBO biologists on this community science outing. We will be looking for cones! The Pinyon Jay is extremely well-adapted to capitalize on the unique ecology of the pinyon pine. very fall, Pinyon Jays harvest and cache as many pine nuts as they can from ripe pinyon pine cones as a strategy to su

www.gbbo.org

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 29

Hunkering down to wait out the storm… #NevadaPinyonJays #FieldCampFriday

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 28

Pinyon Jays are the sole species in the genus Gymnorhinus, Latin for “naked nose,” since they lack feathers covering the base of their bill. As a result, their bills do not get gummed up with resin from fresh cones, and they can capitalize on that resource earlier in the year than other birds can.

Closeup of Pinyon Jay head against a blue sky. Pinyon Jay photo by Bobby Wilcox.

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 27

What you doing this evening?! We're heading to the Hideout tonight! Join us, 5-8pm, as we take over the bar for a great cause!

Bar Takeover at the Hideout Lounge — Great Basin Bird Observatory

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞! -𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠 -𝑅𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑠 & 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑒 -𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑔𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝐵𝐵𝑂 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ! Great Basin Bird Observatory biologists are taking over the bar at the Hideout Lo

www.gbbo.org

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 27

Starting field work in winter means the crew must be prepared for a variety of working conditions, and hunkering down in tents if we get snowed out of surveys!

Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 27

The 2025 Nevada Pinyon Jay crew began training on March 3rd. Monitoring sure got off to an interesting start with a surprise snowstorm (ok, not a TOTAL surprise, but it was sure more than we bargained for).

#PinyonJay #monitoring #Nevada

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A bundled up field crew poses mid-hike along a snowy dirt road through Pinyon Jay country

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 27

Pinyon Jay lovers and community scientists - we're heading out for a cone survey! If you're in/near the Reno area on August 30th, we'll be leading a cone-counting #communityscience event, as we document the cone crops that are important to so many wildlife species.

Pinyon Jay Community Science: Pinyon Pine Cone survey — Great Basin Bird Observatory

Join GBBO biologists on this community science outing. We will be looking for cones! The Pinyon Jay is extremely well-adapted to capitalize on the unique ecology of the pinyon pine. very fall, Pinyon Jays harvest and cache as many pine nuts as they can from ripe pinyon pine cones as a strategy to su

www.gbbo.org

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 26

Training for our 2025 Arizona Pinyon Jay crew began in mid-February! Pinyon Jays begin courtship behavior and colony formation in winter, so our Pinyon Jay projects get started much earlier than other breeding season field work.

Crew talking through protocols as they walk a dirt road through Pinyon Jay habitat

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Great Basin Bird Observatory @greatbasinbirds.bsky.social · Aug 26

We're taking over the Hideout Lounge next week! Are you in/near Reno, want to have fun, drink some beer, and support a great cause?

Come out to the Hideout Lounge, August 27, from 5 to 8 pm!

Bar Takeover at the Hideout Lounge — Great Basin Bird Observatory

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞! -𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠 -𝑅𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑠 & 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑒 -𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑔𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝐵𝐵𝑂 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ! Great Basin Bird Observatory biologists are taking over the bar at the Hideout Lo

www.gbbo.org

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