The Avian Alarm project added with the Riven Tides update opens with something projects in Arc Raiders normally don't ask for: an in-match action. Before you can start donating materials, you have to drop into Riven Tides, find a specific buoy on the dried-up seabed, and place a bird trap next to it. The objective text points you toward the Seabed, but the actual interact prompt sits in a fairly narrow spot at the north end of the map.
Where the bird trap goes on Riven Tides
The placement point is at the northern edge of Riven Tides, on the exposed seabed just outside the sea wall. From the Port Authority Building, move northeast toward the Wavebreaker point of interest. You're looking for an oversized red buoy half-buried in the sand on the open beach floor.
The location appears to be fixed across raid rounds, so there's no rotation to learn and no random spawn to chase. When you get close to the buoy, a blue holographic outline of a cage appears with several valid placement spots around it. Any of them works.
Steps to complete Initial Flock Intake
Step 1: From the deployment screen, select Riven Tides as your destination and load in. You don't need to bring a trap, a key, or any quest item from Speranza. The trap is provided through the interaction itself.
Step 2: Travel to the northern part of the map and pass the Port Authority Building. Drop down onto the dried seabed and head northeast toward the Wavebreaker, keeping the sea wall on your left.
Step 3: Approach the large red buoy sticking out of the sand. A blue cage hologram and a "Lay Bird Trap" prompt will appear. Press the interact key (E on PC) on any of the valid spots around the buoy.
Step 4: Extract from the raid. The trap counts as placed the moment the interaction finishes, so you don't need to wait for any animation or for a bird to be caught.
Step 5: Back in Speranza, open Expedition and switch to the Projects tab. Select Avian Alarm. Stage 1 (Initial Flock Intake) should now show as complete, with the Dockmaster's Detector and 25 Raider Tokens available to claim.
How to confirm the trap was placed
Two things change once the interaction goes through. In-raid, the Riven Tides quest tracker on the map screen marks the "Place Bird Trap" objective as complete. Back in Speranza, the Avian Alarm project shifts to Stage 2, Preliminary Signal Birds, and the Commit Resource prompt becomes active for the first donation list.
If neither of those updates, the trap did not register. Common reasons it fails to count: leaving the area before the placement animation completes, dying before extracting (since unsaved progress is lost on death), or interacting with a similar-looking object that isn't the buoy. Return to the same buoy and re-trigger the prompt.
What comes after stage 1
Once the trap is placed, Avian Alarm reverts to the standard four-stage donation loop. The full project runs for four weeks from the Riven Tides update launch, ending May 26, 2026, so there's time to gather materials at a normal raid pace.
| Stage | Required materials | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Initial Flock Intake | Place bird trap by the buoy on Riven Tides | Dockmaster's Detector, 25 Raider Tokens |
| 2. Preliminary Signal Birds | 7x Tick Pod, 20x Canister, 12x Moss, 5x "Twilight Compass" Ship Model | Heavy Gun Parts Blueprint, 3x Surge Coil, 25 Raider Tokens |
| 3. Secondary Validation Birds | 3x Comet Igniter, 10x Fertilizer, 8x Rusted Tools, 5x "Velocity" Ship Model | Anvil IV, Anvil Splitter, 50 Raider Tokens |
| 4. Heightened Alert Birds | 2x Vaporizer Regulator, 3x Water Filter, 8x Agave, 5x "Sirena Dorata" Ship Model | Gel Patches (face style), Riven Tides Hotel Keycard No. 311, 50 Raider Tokens |
| 5. Critical Warning Birds | 2x Turbine Compressor, 3x Red Coral Jewelry, 4x Roots, 1x "Leviathan's Crown" Ship Model | Bird House (backpack attachment), Fist in Air emote, Acoustic Guitar, 100 Raider Tokens |
Why the project exists in the fiction
The bird cages aren't decorative. Speranza is training the birds as a low-tech early-warning system, with the goal of detecting seismic activity and other environmental shifts before they hit the settlement. It's a small detail, but it explains why the donation list leans on tracking gear, ship models, and biological materials rather than weapons.