Birds of the Lahontan Valley

by Graham Chisholm

"Deep in the arid vastness of the harsh Great Basin desert, in one of the warmest and driest basins in northern Nevada, lies a wetland oasis that is home to more than 290 species of resident and migratory birds. The Lahontan Valley wetlands, including Stillwater Marsh and Carson Lake, contain the remnants of a vast Pleistocene lake that once covered much of western and northern Nevada. Today, shrunken to fewer than 100,000 acres and precariously vulnerable to the vagaries of the Great Basin's scanty rainfall and to competing demands for water from neighboring agriculturalists and northern Nevada's booming urban development, the Lahontan Valley wetlands persist as one of the most important birding sites on the Pacific Flyway.". "Birds of the Lahontan Valley is a major contribution to the study of natural history in the Great Basin. Authors Graham Chisholm and Larry A. Neel provide a comprehensive discussion of the geologic history of the area; the intricate relationships between climate