Dear Ohio Birders:
We’re in the thick of it – everywhere we look birds are carrying food for their young and we’re hardly ever out of earshot of the calls of begging fledglings or their nervous parents. With Ohio’s birds heavily invested in breeding it’s a good time to update you on the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II. This project is a follow-up to Ohio’s first breeding bird atlas of the mid-1980s. Over the next 4 years OBBA II and its volunteers will develop new maps of the breeding distributions of birds by visiting all of the 4000+ Ohio atlas blocks. And, using a trained team of surveyors we’ll collect detailed information on bird abundance in an unprecedented half of all atlas blocks. The project will also conduct statewide surveys for nocturnal and wetland birds. These data will increase our knowledge of Ohio’s avifauna immensely and will be especially useful for identifying areas of conservation importance.
Thanks to all the Atlas Volunteers, Regional Coordinators, and many others, 2006 was a great first year for OBBA II. To date, some 580 volunteers have contributed over 70,000 observations of 189 species, including King Rail, Common Merganser, Black Tern, Wilson’s Phalarope, Loggerhead Shrike, Clay-colored Sparrow, and Golden-winged Warbler. In fact, in the past few weeks alone, we have new reports of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, Saw-whet Owl, Short-eared Owl, Upland Sandpiper, and multiple pairs of Bell’s Vireos! In short, Atlas volunteers are turning up fantastic finds and demonstrating that the large expansion of sampling effort in Atlas II is starting to pay off. Nonetheless, we have a long way to go and we very much need your help. Here’s how you can contribute to the atlas this summer…
1. Sign up to ‘own’ and survey several Atlas blocks. Or, if you’re already doing so, consider adding new blocks. Some 30% of registered Atlas volunteers have not signed up for their own blocks, yet we view multiple block ownership as key to completing this project. Nearly 75 folks have signed up for 4 or more blocks (several have 20+ blocks!). Indeed, many experienced observers are finding that they can complete about 1 block per year without too much trouble. Only 20% of the state’s blocks have been assigned to volunteers and there are many unassigned blocks within conservation areas of interest.
2. Get involved or organize a “block-busting” event with your birding or Audubon group this summer. Several Ohio birding groups like Columbus’s Avid Birders, Scioto Valley Bird & Nature Club, Ohio Young Birders Club, and several individual Regional Coordinators are already doing just. If you are interested, please contact us soon and we can try to facilitate.
3. If you do a Breeding Bird Survey route in Ohio or conduct other bird surveys between 2006 and 2010, the data can be easily incorporated into OBBA II and entered through the atlas website. However, because BBS routes will cross through a number of atlas blocks, you may need to the GPS stops on your route.
Please don't let data entry get in the way of your field atlasing -- if you're having trouble with this, let us know and we can help!
The bottom line is that atlasing is great fun and the next 5 weeks will be very productive, if you act soon. You’ll learn many new things about birds in your region (or beyond!), and the data you generate go to an important cause. Thanks you for all your contributions!!! Please contact us if you have any questions or conerns: [log in to unmask] OR 614-247-6458. Happy Atlasing!
Paul G. Rodewald, Director
Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II
Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43085
OBBA II Web Site: http://www.ohiobirds.org/obba2/
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
______________________________________________________________________
Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
|
