Tap once for warbler: Phone app lets you count Arizona birds for nature research

The program's findings will help guide research about birds and their critical habitat.

Joshua Bowling
The Republic | azcentral.com
A Summer Tanager sits on a branch in Agua Fria National Monument north of Phoenix.

AGUA FRIA NATIONAL MONUMENT — Tice Supplee calls, and the birds come.

She walks a line carved by the Agua Fria River through the high desert. The trees are still green and the water still flows. Barely.

Just beyond the riparian area's reaches, the desert is stressed; wilting limbs, dry ground and encroaching heat all bear signs of the intense drought facing Arizona. It's all here.

So are the birds — here to breed and care for their young before heading south.

Supplee, Audubon Arizona director of bird conservation, calls again, and a yellow warbler flits into sight. After it leaves, she calls for a summer tanager. It comes, red feathers shimmering in the morning light, and sings its song.

"A lot of birders don't actually see their birds," Supplee said. "They hear them."

Audubon officials are encouraging the public to explore Western waterways as part of its first Western Rivers Bird Count, which they hope to make an annual event.

The organization doesn't have a lot of available data on which birds live along rivers and streams in the Western U.S., so it's asking birders — both green and veteran — to visit key locations, record their findings in an app and share the information.

"What we're discovering is folks really like doing stuff like this," she said. "They get to contribute to science — and it's kind of fun."

Birdwatching with a phone

Tice Supplee, of Audubon Arizona, bird watches in Agua Fria National Monument, one area where the group is asking researchers, wildlife officials and the public to help fill the gaps on bird population data.

Audubon researchers are asking for the public's help with the bird count, which started May 5 and runs through the end of June.

Researchers have a hard time studying birds' habits along waterways in Arizona and the West because rivers and streams aren't exactly plentiful, Supplee said.

"You just don't get a good sample set for the rivers and streams," Supplee said. "The land cover for Arizona rivers and streams is one percent."

Anyone with a smartphone and the eBird app can keep track of birds at their location. If they're out of cell service, they can keep track on an offline list and submit it later. The data helps scientists better inform their research about what trends and habits birds are exhibiting.

The priority targets are on public land and Audubon predicts birders will be able to spot four specific birds:

  • Yellow warblers
  • Summer tanagers
  • Yellow-breasted chats
  • Bell's vireos

"If they know the other birds, great," Supplee said. "But we're asking them to focus on these four."

Researchers chose to target the four birds as priorities after a report identified issues facing their habitat in the Colorado River Basin and saline lakes.

Volunteers can visit any of the 5,105 sites spanning the West and work on a bird checklist for as little as five minutes or as long as an hour. If volunteers are going to spend more than an hour birding, they should start a new checklist and, preferably, move to a new location, Supplee said. 

Putting the research in the hands of volunteers could open the door for inaccuracies to creep in, but Supplee isn't concerned. With thousands of sites for people to bird and record their findings, officials expect any incorrect information to be negligible.

"Even trained professionals can make errors," she said. "If there's a bad count somewhere, it'll wash out."

Water is at the heart of the issue. Drought, diversions and demand have harmed the ecosystems along the Colorado River that house 40 percent of bird species found in the Southwest, according to Audubon.

"Western water is a priority for us right now because of all the reasons you see in the news every day," Supplee said. "We consider the birds an indicator of healthy water."

Spotting birds in their summer homes

A mallard duck finds water in Agua Fria National Monument north of Phoenix. Audubon Arizona is asking the public to help fill in missing data on bird populations along western rivers using a phone app.

Cottonwood trees house the birds and shade what little water there is coursing through the Agua Fria. A duck sits on the water before taking flight, away from the stream that could dry up.

The area is one of the Audubon Society's Important Bird Areas — co-managed by Audubon's statewide and Tucson branches in partnership with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The sites are aimed at maintaining key bird habitat.

In less than an hour, Supplee spots yellow warblers, summer tanagers, yellow-breasted chats and a Bell's vireo — the four birds Audubon is gathering data on. In the search, she also finds a western wood-pewee, common yellowthroat and Wilson's warbler.

The riparian area along the Agua Fria is key for the migratory birds; they come back around March for food and shelter through the summer. Once winter comes, they head back south.

Not far from the Interstate 17 exit ramp, the location is easily accessible for volunteers who don't want to embark on an hours-long trip.

"The birds don't use these things like a highway, but they stop here to eat," Supplee said. "This is a chance to count them while they're here breeding, raising their young."

Birds' relationship with the water

A dragonfly rests on a cattail  in Agua Fria National Monument north of Phoenix during a bird-watching outing with Audubon Arizona.

The birds come to Supplee's calls, but some leave quickly.

She mimics the pygmy owl's sound, something warblers and other small birds are drawn to.

"When these birds are down south, they mob pygmy owls," she said. "Once they figure out, 'Oh, it's a stupid human,' then it's not as effective."

The initial Audubon report found bird habitat along Western rivers faces significant obstacles, including warming conditions, sinking water levels and the link between the two.

About one-third of water loss was due to warming temperatures, rather than less rainfall, between 2000 and 2014, according to the report. It projects that temperature change on its own could result in a 20 percent loss of flow by 2050 and a 50 percent-plus loss by the end of the century.

Some birds are increasingly spending their winters further north, Supplee said. As the planet warms and snow doesn't come as readily to some northern areas, birds don't necessarily have a reason to head south for the winter, she said.

"All of this produces food for these birds, and shelter," Supplee said. "If we maintain places that are healthy and good for our birds, we're going to have places that are healthy and good for us."

Supplee hopes the findings from eBird will inform where action needs to be taken and how habitat can be preserved. But it can be difficult to research an animal's home when it's migratory by nature.

"We're still learning a lot about these animals," she said. "They spend over half their life somewhere else."

Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at OurGrandAZ on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

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