Volunteer Training: Forest Bird Monitoring Saturday, April 12th, 2025 10:00am-12:00pm Classroom at the Randall Davey Audubon Center, 1800 Upper Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM  

Do you like hiking and looking at birds? Read on!

Join Audubon Southwest, The Forest Stewards Guild and the Santa Fe National Forest to document current montane bird populations and to track treatment-related changes. This is our second year visiting survey points provided by the Forest Service and we welcome back veteran surveyors as well as new folks! 

Volunteers select one or two points from a map of about 20 points and agree to visit these three times between April 20 and May 31. All study points are near Hyde Park Road, however, note that some points are easier to reach than others! Once on site, volunteers conduct 2 six-minute point counts, during which they record all the bird species they hear and see. 

* We ask that volunteers work in pairs for safety and that one volunteer listens and looks for birds and the other volunteer records the data. 

Learn more about the protocol and review commonly encountered bird species on April 12!

Program Details:

• Includes both a presentation in the Audubon classroom, and outdoor practice around the Center.
• Assigned monitoring locations will include light, moderate, or challenging hikes. Please communicate with the workshop trainer if you have physical preferences for this category. All locations are located within the Santa Fe National Forest, and along designated trails off Hyde Park Road.
• Conduct 2 x 5 minute point counts at sites in the Santa Fe National Forest, between Hyde Park Road up to the Ski Hill. All monitoring must occur between April 15-May 31st.
• Volunteers will work in pairs (either chosen or assigned) for safety
• Volunteers assigned to 2 sites minimum, but can sign up for more if interested
• Data collected through eBird (training available)
• Some bird identification skills preferred, and/or willingness to partner with a more experienced birder
• No registration fee required, but donations are encouraged to support the outdoor education programs at RDAC.

For more information: cathy.wise@audubon.org.

The Randall Davey Audubon Center is located at 1800 Upper Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Photo: Mountain Chickadee by Tamima Itani