U~T San Diego interviewed our Andrea Jones and Garry George about our recent Mountain Plover survey results:

Mountain plovers — small, migratory birds that trek from the Great Plains to California each year — are showing up in greater numbers in the Imperial Valley after disappearing from parts of Central California, Audubon officials said.

That could affect solar energy developments planned for the agricultural areas that the birds visit, officials said.

An Audubon survey funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service last year found 3,072 mountain plovers in the Imperial Valley. In 2011, the survey counted only 827 of the birds, and in 2002, it found 1,200, said Andrea Jones, important bird areas director for Audubon California.

Read the entire article here.