ARC Raiders: How to Lay the Bird Trap for Avian Alarm – Exact Buoy Location

Head to the northeast seabed on Riven Tides, look for a large red buoy near the Port Authority Building side of the wave breaker, and use the on-screen placement prompt there. That is how to lay the bird trap to start the Avian Alarm project in ARC Raiders. The important part is that you do not need to bring a special bird trap item into the raid, and the objective is usually considered complete the moment you place it. You do not need to wait around for birds, defend the trap, or extract with a new item afterward.

For players working through ARC Raiders Walkthroughs, Quests & Objectives on the Riven Tides update, this one is easier than the wording makes it sound. “Lay a bird trap next to the buoys along the Seabed” is a location-based interaction, not a scavenging requirement. If you have been searching your inventory, crafting menu, or mission stash first, that is the wrong track.

Where the bird trap goes on Riven Tides

The bird trap placement area is consistently described in the north or northeast section of Riven Tides, on the dried-up seabed near the Port Authority Building. Different guides describe the spot a little differently, but they all point to the same general zone: the shoreline edge by the wave breaker or seawall, with a red buoy sticking out of the sand.

The key detail is that the prompt appears around the buoy, not on the Port Authority Building itself. If you run into the building, climb around its exterior, or sweep the whole port yard first, you are probably wasting time. Treat the building as a landmark only. The actual interaction is on the seabed beside the buoy cluster.

• Map area: Riven Tides
• Zone: north/northeast seabed
• Main landmark: large red buoy in the sand
• Nearby reference point: Port Authority Building and wave breaker/seawall
• What to do: walk into the valid spot near the buoy and interact

Best route to the Avian Alarm buoy

If your only goal is to clear the first Avian Alarm step, route straight for the northeast seabed as soon as you hit Riven Tides. Stay focused on the coastline and the dried sand flats rather than the port building interior. The buoy is the visual anchor that matters most, especially because the exact prompt position can sit a few steps off from where you first expect it.

A practical way to approach it is this: move toward the Port Authority side of the map, then cut out onto the seabed near the seawall and scan for the red buoy. Once you are in that cluster, slow down and circle the base area instead of sprinting past it. Current coverage suggests there may be several valid placement spots around the same buoy area, or at least a prompt that can feel slightly offset depending on your angle. So do not assume you missed the objective just because the prompt did not appear on your first step.

This is also why some players report the spot as “north of Port Authority” while others call it “the northeastern shoreline by the wave breaker.” Those descriptions are not really contradictory. They are most likely describing the same section of Riven Tides from different zoom levels and approach routes.

How to place the bird trap once you reach the buoy

When you reach the buoy, look for the interaction prompt at ground level. On both PC and console, the important part is the prompt itself rather than a specific input callout here, since the control binding can differ. Move around the buoy a few meters at a time until the placement interact appears, then hold the required button or key to confirm.

Once the interaction completes, the first Avian Alarm requirement should register. In current guide coverage, that is the entire step. You are not waiting for a trap timer, not escorting anything, and not picking up a trapped bird later in the same match. If you were expecting a second phase in the field, that expectation is what usually causes confusion.

Because this is a simple environmental objective, the safest play is often to place it quickly and move on rather than lingering in the open seabed. The area is exposed, and turning a 20-second interaction into a long fight is the easiest way to lose a clean objective run.

If the prompt is not showing up

The most common failure point is being in the right macro-area but the wrong micro-position. Current reporting is strong on the general zone and weaker on whether the interaction uses one exact fixed point or a small set of valid spots around the buoy. In practice, that means you should sweep the immediate area instead of abandoning the location too early.

• Check the landmark again. You want the big red buoy on the seabed, not a random structure near the port.
• Circle the buoy slowly. Move around the base and nearby sand rather than standing in one place.
• Do not search inside the Port Authority Building. It is a reference point, not the interaction surface.
• Make sure you are on the Avian Alarm project step. If needed, confirm it from the project page in Speranza before loading back in.
• Do not look for an inventory item. The bird trap is not something you need to carry into the raid first.
• Do not wait for a follow-up animation. Placement itself is the completion trigger according to current guide coverage.

If the area is contested, it can also help to reset your approach rather than forcing a fight on the buoy. Since this is a fast interaction, a clean second pass is often safer than taking unnecessary damage in open terrain just to save a minute.

What happens after you place it

Placing the bird trap appears to unlock the rest of the Avian Alarm project chain. After the raid, head back to Speranza and check the Projects page for Avian Alarm. The next stages are reported as resource donation steps rather than more hidden placement mechanics.

One commonly reported material set for the follow-on stage includes 7 Tick Pod, 20 Canister, 12 Moss, and 5 Twilight Compass Ship Models. Treat that as current reported guidance rather than a permanent rule, because live-game project requirements can be adjusted over time. The main practical point is that the bird trap step is the gate: once it is done, the project shifts into donation progress.

Best way to bundle this with other Riven Tides objectives

The bird trap run works well as a two-for-one trip. The buoy area sits close enough to other early Riven Tides routes that you can fold it into a broader loot or task sweep instead of burning an entire raid on one interaction. Current guide chatter especially pairs it with nearby Stacking Yard activity, which makes sense if you want efficient objective routing.

The smart order is simple: go to the buoy first while you are fresh, clear the Avian Alarm interaction, then rotate into whatever other seabed or nearby port objective you planned. That way, even if the match gets messy later, the hard-to-misread project step is already banked.

The practical takeaway

If you want to lay the bird trap to start the Avian Alarm project in ARC Raiders, stop searching menus and stop looting for a special item. Go to Riven Tides, head for the northeast seabed near the Port Authority Building, find the large red buoy by the wave breaker, and interact at one of the valid spots around it. If the prompt does not appear immediately, sweep the buoy area in a tight circle. Once the trap is placed, the step is done, and you can return to the project page in Speranza to handle the donation stages.