Burns Reserve is part of the University of California Natural Reserve System. It is located in San Bernardino County in the high desert north of Joshua Tree National Park. As such, access is limited and restricted. The reserve sits at ~1300 m, the habitat includes Joshua Tree woodland, Pinon-Juniper woodland, montane chaparral, and desert scrub.
I band at this site twice a year, one weekend in the fall and again in the spring. Now, we have a second bander leads another group of banders on two other weekends. Thus far, we have banded 80 species. The totals number of birds processed on a given weekend varies from less than 20 to over 200. The reason for this variation is the vagaries of weather in desert habitats.
The banders who work at Burns are experienced, as we work at a primitive site under more rigorous conditions. Training is done at Zuma Canyon. After a season or two at Zuma, one is prepared to band birds at Burns.
