Great Basin Birds

Based on over thirty years of research, this comprehensive book on the diverse bird life of the Great Basin discusses the physiology, behavior, ecology, and distribution of over 300 species, including information on navigation, flight, territorial behavior, courtship, nesting, hunting, and the great migrations that pass through the region each year.

A must for all birdwatchers in the Great Basin.

Watchable Birds of the Great Basin offers wildlife enthusiasts, families, and birders fascinating facts about nesting behavior, birdsongs, foods, and flight characteristics of 80 of the most fun-to-watch species in Nevada and parts of Utah, Oregon, Idaho, and California.

A documentation of the first-ever statewide survey of breeding birds, undertaken between 1997 and 2000

Bird censuses were taken on 11 study plots along an elevational gradient ranging from 5,250 to 11,400 feet. Each plot represented a different vegetative type or zone: shadscale, shadscale-Wyoming big sagebrush, Wyoming big sagebrush, Wyoming big sagebrush-pinyon/juniper, pinyon/juniper, pinyon/juniper-mountain big sagebrush, mountain big sagebrush, mountain big sagebrush-mixed conifer, mixed conifer, mixed conifer-alpine, and alpine. Eighty-nine bird species were observed. The total number of birds and bird species followed a skewed bell-shaped distribution. Some birds were quite narrow in their choice of vegetative zones while others showed very little selectivity. Both total number of individual birds and bird species appeared to reach highest values in study plots with a substantial component of mountain big sagebrush.

Bird censuses were taken on 11 study plots along an elevational gradient ranging from 5,250 to 11,400 feet. Each plot represented a different vegetative type or zone: shadscale, shadscale-Wyoming big sagebrush, Wyoming big sagebrush, Wyoming big sagebrush-pinyon/juniper, pinyon/juniper, pinyon/juniper-mountain big sagebrush, mountain big sagebrush, mountain big sagebrush-mixed conifer, mixed conifer, mixed conifer-alpine, and alpine. Eighty-nine bird species were observed. The total number of birds and bird species followed a skewed bell-shaped distribution. Some birds were quite narrow in their choice of vegetative zones while others showed very little selectivity. Both total number of individual birds and bird species appeared to reach highest values in study plots with a substantial component of mountain big sagebrush.