The Avian Alarm project in Arc Raiders arrived with the Riven Tides update, and its opening step trips up a lot of players. Unlike most projects that simply ask you to donate a pile of materials, the first stage works more like a quest: you need to physically go into a match, find a specific buoy on the dried-up seabed, and lay down a bird trap next to it. No special items required, no waiting around. Just find the spot, interact, and get out. Once that's done, the remaining four stages fall back into the familiar material-donation loop.
Where is the bird trap in Arc Raiders?
The trap placement point sits northeast of the Port Authority Building at the northern end of the Riven Tides map. The in-game clue references the Seabed, which sounds vague, but the actual spot is right outside the sea wall adjacent to the Port Authority Building. Head down to the dried-out ocean floor and look for a large red buoy sticking out of the sand. According to both PC Gamer and Destructoid's coverage of the Riven Tides update, the buoy location appears to be fixed regardless of which raid round you're in, so there's no RNG involved here.
Once you spot the buoy, you'll see several valid placement spots around it. Walk up to any one of them and interact with the prompt to lay the bird trap. That's the entire task. You don't need to wait for a bird to actually get caught, and you don't need to bring anything special from Speranza into the match.
Avian Alarm project donation stage
The bird trap location puts you close to the Stacking Yard area, which means you can knock out steps for the Shoring Up Defenses and Battening Down quests in the same run. Plan your route before dropping in.
How to complete the Avian Alarm project after laying the trap
After placing the trap and extracting, head back to Speranza and open the Projects tab. The first stage of Avian Alarm will show as complete. From there, the project shifts into a standard donation structure across four more stages.
Here's what the first material donation stage requires, as documented by PC Gamer:
The project runs for four weeks from launch, so there's no need to panic-farm everything at once. Spread the material gathering across your normal raid sessions and you'll have everything well before the deadline, according to Destructoid's coverage of the Avian Alarm requirements.
The Twilight Compass Ship Models needed here are specifically the green-quality versions. Don't waste higher-rarity ones on this stage.
Why does the Avian Alarm project exist in the lore?
The birds being trained here aren't just decoration. As explained in the PC Gamer writeup, the goal is to teach them to detect signs of danger, specifically seismic activity. In Arc Raiders' world, that kind of early-warning system has obvious survival value. It's a small piece of worldbuilding that makes the grind feel like it has a purpose beyond the usual material loop.
For more Arc Raiders content covering projects, quests, and the latest Riven Tides additions, browse more guides on GAMES.GG.