Southwest Projects

Important Bird Area Monitoring

Our Goals
Monitor populations of and maintain habitat quality for the priority grassland birds for which the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch Important Bird Area was designated.
What We’re Doing
In partnership with the Tucson Bird Alliance, we monitor priority grassland birds through annual surveys on the Research and Babacomari ranches and put the data to work informing our conservation efforts.
Botteri's Sparrow

The Important Bird Area (IBA) program was founded by BirdLife International in the 1980s and today contains over 8,000 identified sites across 178 countries. Together, these sites represent a network of habitat critical to the ongoing survival of wild bird populations and an opportunity to engage the public in science and conservation. National Audubon is the United States IBA partner and since 1998 has identified over 2,500 sites covering more than 370 million acres of habitat. 

The Arizona IBA Program was established in 2001 and is co-administered by Audubon Southwest and Tucson Bird Alliance in close collaboration with the Arizona Game and Fish Department (through the Arizona Bird Conservation Initiative), the Sonoran Joint Venture, the Intermountain West Joint Venture, Arizona State Parks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, and others. The state's 48 IBAs are varied in the type of habitat they identify but they all share one thing in common - they are critical to the future of Arizona’s native birds.  

The Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch IBA was included in Arizona's IBA network for three reasons. First is the rare and exceptionally high-quality grassland habitat found across the ranch. Second are the priority bird species that call this habitat home - Chihuahuan Meadowlark and Cassin's, Grasshopper, Rufous-winged, and Botteri's sparrows. Lastly is our commitment to putting the property to work for research and education.  

Into the field
Audubon Southwest staff and volunteers head into the field

To ensure that the Research Ranch continues to provide the conservation values identified by its Important Bird Area designation, Audubon Southwest staff and volunteers head into the field each summer following the monsoon to conduct surveys both on the Research Ranch and the adjacent Babacomari Ranch. These data help us to keep a close watch on our priority birds, provide a glimpse into overall habitat health on the ranch, help us evaluate our land management efforts, and inform future conservation initiatives. 

To learn more about the Research Ranch IBA and our work toward Important Bird Area goals, check out our AWRR IBA Mini Conservation Plan.