Bird Monitoring Program

Introduction | Bostick Census | Bostick Census Data Search
Bostick Census Summary | Avian Point Count Study | Wash Bird List | Photo Gallery

Introduction

When the Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee (LVWCC) was created in 1998, the majority of the biological resources in the Las Vegas Wash (Wash) had not been studied for more than 30 years. One of the 44 action items recommended in the LVWCC's guiding document, the Las Vegas Wash Comprehensive Adaptive Management Plan, is the development of a long-term fish and wildlife management plan, which is currently being written. To ensure that the LVWCC would have the best available information with which to develop this plan, the Las Vegas Wash Project Coordination Team (Project Team) has conducted extensive biological monitoring, including reptile, small mammal, bat, amphibian, and fish surveys, as well as a bird monitoring program.

Snowy Egret

The Wash, located on the Pacific Migratory Flyway, provides critical avian habitat in the arid Mojave Desert. Over 50% of all breeding birds in the southwest depend on riparian areas at some point in their breeding cycle. Many birds are riparian or wetland obligates. Wash stabilization activities will deter further wetland loss, reduce sedimentation to Lake Mead, and enhance wetland and riparian habitat through revegetation with native species. This should have a significant impact on the bird community in the Wash. Thus, on November 14, 2000, the Project Team teamed with the Red Rock Audubon Society (RRAS) to begin a bird census to collect baseline data and to document changes in species richness and abundance as weir construction and habitat restoration progressed.  The census is conducted at the site of the Bostick Weir and uses a modified area search method.

RRAS volunteers

Celebrating its five-year anniversary in November 2005, this census has documented 133 species of birds, including birds rarely seen in southern Nevada, such as the palm warbler and the northern saw-whet owl.

An additional layer was added to the bird monitoring program in February 2005 with the initiation of the Wash avian point count study.  The study is funded through a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and we have contracted with San Bernardino County Museum to perform the counts.  While the census conducted with the Red Rock Audubon Society allows us to collect a large amount of data at one specific site on the Wash, the point count study provides a snapshot of the bird community at close to 30 sites along the lower Wash. 

In it’s first year, the study recorded 133 species, 26 of which were new to the bird monitoring program.  This brings the total number of bird species identified in the past five years to 159!