Counting cones near Virginia City in August! Here, volunteers are surveying for ripe (green) pinyon pine cones. Mapping these cones helps track this vital Pinyon Jay food source- a key piece of the conservation puzzle. #PinyonJay #ConservationInAction #CommunityScience #GBBO

Counting cones near Virginia City in August! Here, volunteers are surveying for ripe (green) pinyon pine cones. Mapping these cones helps track this vital Pinyon Jay food source- a key piece of the conservation puzzle. #PinyonJay #ConservationInAction #CommunityScience #GBBO

Pinyon Jay fledgling begging in the Sheep Range north of Las Vegas. Note the pale-yellow inner edge of bill (the gape), and the overall gray color. #PinyonJay #Nevada #birds

Pinyon Jay fledgling begging in the Sheep Range north of Las Vegas. Note the pale-yellow inner edge of bill (the gape), and the overall gray color. #PinyonJay #Nevada #birds

#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

#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

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.

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.

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.

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 1/2