I recently obtained a copy of the Breeding Birds in Ohio (Atlas II) book.
Initially, I thought it might be quality, but upon closer study I decided
it was a little less.
I looked at data from swans through red-bellied woodpecker. There are MANY
errors in the data printed related to the 1st Ohio breeding bird atlas
(OBBA I)  in the "Number of Blocks Detected" graphic for each specie. I
found errors for 18 species from swans to red-bl. woodpecker. Half of these
species have fairly minor errors. HOWEVER, 8 species in the group have
MAJOR errors. Check out the number for n. bobwhite, killdeer, mourning
dove, cm. nighthawk, e. whip-poor-will, chimney swift, r.t. hummingbird and
red-bellied woodpecker. All they had to do is copy the data from the first
OBBA I, but apparently they couldn't do that. I guess a master's degree
only gets a person so far.If there are these many errors for swans thru
red-bell. woodpecker, how many more errors are there for the rest of the
species?
For each or most species is given a graphic called "Change map". AGAIN, the
errors in these maps is almost endless. Look at the "Breeding Evidence"
maps and those on OBBA I and see all the hundreds of errors.
If you want a good laugh, look at the pages on ring-necked pheasant. There
is a "Density" map. The red area for eastern Crawford County means that
r.n. pheasants are fairly common at this area. WRONG ! ! Wild ring-necked
pheasants are extremely rare anywhere at Crawford County, Ohio. What does
exist is several hunting preserves, with hundreds upon hundreds of
pheasants in chicken wire large cages. Not exactly my idea of wild birds.
One thing that did not help the OBBA II was that they did not contact the
regional coordinators from Atlas I and consequently irritated several of
these individuals to the point of not being involved in the second Atlas.
Also, a very knowledgeable northern Ohio birder volunteered to be the head
coordinator but was turned down, probably because he did not work for the
ODOW. Imagine that.
The second OBBA does have some worthwhile information, but considering the
errors one is wondering how much of the 2nd OBBA data can be trusted.
JOHN PATRICK HERMAN

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