The mosaic of wetlands in Southern Oregon and Northern California provide important habitat for an incredible diversity of breeding and migratory birds, including Oregon Conservation Strategy Species like the snowy plover and long-billed curlew.

Earlier this summer, ODFW biologists and volunteers conducted a snowy plover census at sites in eastern Oregon, which added current year data points to a long-standing data set documenting occupancy trends for this species. With uncharacteristically severe heat and drought conditions in Oregon and throughout the west, this summer will be a critical time to monitor for changes in bird behavior and habitat use. Changing water availability and associated declines in habitat quality and forage availability can have lasting effects on where breeding birds are found, and your observations can help ODFW to detect potential impacts to the status and population trends of sensitive species. In areas of eastern Oregon where water features are limiting, even a single breeding season observation of a species like the snowy plover submitted through iNaturalist can add to our understanding of the current distribution of the species, building on efforts like the snowy plover census.

This snowy plover observation from eastern Oregon was recently added to our project by user @cgates326 !

If you have observations of birds, reptiles, amphibians, or mammals in Oregon from this summer, don't forget to add them to our project! Adding your data to our project allows you to share specific geodata for sensitive species with us, and contributes to contribution efforts in the state.