Each spring, TBC participants collect data on bird abundance and distribution at hundreds of point count locations arrayed across the Tucson basin.
Tucson Bird Count results have led to scientific publications, informed Tucson-area planning, and contributed a variety of projects, from locating populations of imperiled species to estimating risk to humans from West Nile Virus.
The TBC and several associated research projects are examples of reconciliation ecology, in that they investigate how native species can be sustained in and around the places people live, work, and play.
Because the data are entered directly by participants into the Tucson Bird Count web site, results are publicly available on-line with little delay after observations are made.
In contrast, Gambel's quail, a characteristic species of Sonoran Desert upland habitats, shows the inverse pattern, common near Tucson's periphery yet absent from most of the more heavily developed central portion of the city.