Atlas 2000 - Year Three

Chet Vincent's found another owl nest, so the third Atlas 2000 field season is underway! Are you participating? It's not too late. There are a number of good blocks still unassigned. So what's a "good" block? By that I mean a block that includes a nice tract of public or easily accessible land with interesting habitat. The most remarkable one is 5962D, which has Taconic Hereford MUA, part of Pond Gut, Innisfree, and Rockefeller Field Research Station...all in one block! Other birding spots that are in available blocks are Tamarack and Millbrook School, Cascade Mountain Road, Tamarack Preserve, Wassaic MUA, and Rudd Pond State Park. Last year we had a great time "block-busting" a block that the Harlem Valley Rail Trail went through. The Rail Trail passes through two other blocks that are still available.

Speaking of "block-busting," we'll be conducting several block-busting field trips to uncovered blocks during June and July. Watch the field trip schedule.

Of course, even the blocks full of housing developments need to be covered. They are most easily covered by residents of the block. But you'll be surprised that you can find "birdable" places in the most unexpected areas.

There is still time to get an Atlas block. Call me, send me an email, or see me at a meeting or field trip and I'll get you everything you'll need. It's a fun project that adds a great new dimension to birding.

Barbara Butler
March 2002

Top of Page

New Data Now Available Online!

Atlasers have another great tool available in 2002. The Atlas 2000 website now gives us access to a vast database of information gathered during the first two years of the project. So atlasers can see the breeding codes already recorded for all species in their blocks, including casual data submitted by others. This knowledge will save atlasers time, since they now know which species they no longer need to spend time on if they were already confirmed by others.

4/14/06 
The new url for this section of the Atlas 2000 website is http://www.dec.state.ny.us/apps/bba/results/index.cfm.

Click on the link above to get block-by-block species data, view species distribution maps (compare current Atlas 2000 data with that of the first atlas), and find out about block assignments and progress.

Barbara Butler
March 2002

Top of Page

Atlas 2000 - Year Two

Our ace Great Horned Owl nest-finder, Chet Vincent, has found owls on nests again this year. And so the breeding season begins -- the second year of Atlas 2000. It's time to get your block(s) for this year. Atlasing is a different way of birding and a great way to use and improve your birding skills. You will be assigned a block to cover, to look for specific breeding evidence this spring and summer. Atlasing is great fun! Don't miss out.

If you can't come on a field trip, and tell me what general area you're interested in.

Check out the Atlas website.

Barbara Butler
February 2001

How to Report Breeding Evidence
                                        (Even in Your Backyard)

Any time you see breeding evidence, whether it's in your backyard or while you are birding in the field, you can contribute to this important project. The more eyes there are watching for breeding activity, the more complete the data will be. So, whether you are officially assigned to an area or not, we ask that you send in reports of any breeding evidence you see in Dutchess County.

Use our handy online reporting form. Or send your reports via , including the following information:

Name(s) of observer(s)
Date of observation
Time spent
Bird species observed
Exact location (be as specific as you can—nearest road and crossroad—so we can place it in the proper block)
Breeding evidence (use the Atlas codes, if you know them. Or just write down what you saw. A nest with adult incubating, young in nest, etc.)

Thank You!

Top of Page

Atlas 2000 - from Audubon New York

On a June morning a birder will spend a couple of hours in a favorite marsh watching birds with a special purpose. He'll note all birds seen and heard, and pay particular attention to their behavior. He's looking for evidence of breeding. He's not disturbing his quarries by searching out nests, simply observing behavioral cues that indicate breeding.

Certainly, some nests can be easily seen. A Great Blue Heron rookery in the wooded edge of the marsh has a dozen large nests and through binoculars our birder sees adults tending young. A Canada Goose pair is leading six fuzzy goslings around the open water. A Swamp Sparrow carries food into the cattails. These are all Confirmed as breeders. Our birder tallies a number of Probable Breeders as well. These include a Red-winged Blackbird male defending a territory, a pair of Wood Ducks together on the open water, a pair of Yellow Warblers flitting about the shrubs at the marsh edge. Our birder can add to the Probables by coming back a week or two later and listening for continued singing by males in the same location. Virginia rails and bitterns heard calling in the marsh on subsequent visit are counted as Probables; the same birds heard on only one visit in the breeding season are Possibles.

Our birder is participating in Atlas 2000, a project of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the Federation of NYS Bird Clubs. National Audubon Society of New York is a partner and member of the steering committee, along with the NY Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, the Cornell University Department of Natural Resources, and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

Atlas 2000 is a multi-year effort to locate bird species and document their breeding habitats in the Empire State. This is a replication of the first Breeding Bird Atlas that was conducted from 1980 to 1985 and resulted in the publication of The Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State in 1988. Atlases of this kind, first developed in Britain, have been done in many states, including Vermont, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. New York will be the first to repeat it at the desired 20-year interval.

A Breeding Bird Atlas gives biologists, planners, and managers information about the distribution of the State's 240 bird species. This repeat effort will document changes, and signal accomplishments and future challenges in managing this valuable resource.

To accomplish the survey, biologists divided the state into more than 5,000 atlas "blocks," each measuring 5x5 kilometers (3x3 miles). Regional coordinators assign survey blocks to volunteers and provide them with a handbook of instructions, field data cards and maps of their blocks. Once assigned to a block, volunteer birders visit each habitat and record each bird species they see or hear. Thousands of volunteers will be needed. They need not be expert ornithologists, but should have some birding experience and be able to identify most of the common breeders in the state.

Though Year One has been completed, Atlas 2000 needs you! If you wish to help, or want more information, contact the Project Coordinator at Breeding Bird Atlas 2000, Wildlife Resources Center, 108 Game Farm Road, Delmar, NY 12054 or e-mail at fwbba@gw.dec.state.ny.us. You can also visit the DEC'S Atlas website and see the handbook of instructions, addresses of regional coordinators, and even topographic maps of atlas blocks.

Note to our Dutchess County members:

See Atlas 2000 Year Three to see how you can participate locally.