BIRD BOOK: As promised, more today about that Pennsylvania
Breeding Bird Atlas project – and how even backyard birders can get
involved.

A confirmed sighting in Bradford this year of a pair of breeding
merlins was among the highlights of the 2006 canvas. As we told you
yesterday, it was the first time ever that merlins, a member of the
falcon family, were confirmed in Pennsylvania.

The sighting was recorded as part of the 2nd Pennsylvania
Breeding Bird Atlas, the most extensive survey of the state’s
nesting birds ever attempted.

Started in 2004, the grid-based survey – which provides visitors
and participants “real time” atlas tabulations on birds and blocks
covered – will continue for two more years and aims to track the
changes that have occurred in bird populations since the first
atlas was completed in 1989.

Since that time, eagles, ospreys and peregrine falcons have
expanded their breeding numbers substantially. Also of interest
will be charting whether the long-term declines of many songbirds
reported in the first atlas continue.

In the fieldwork, the state has been divided into 4,937 survey
blocks. Volunteers have reported observations or nesting accounts
in about 70 percent of the blocks, which means no work has occurred
in more than 1,100 blocks.

More than 75 breeding birds have been confirmed in many blocks,
particularly surrounding urban centers such as Harrisburg,
Lancaster, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and State College, and also
around recreation destinations such as Allegheny Reservoir.

Those areas of Pennsylvania that tend to be more remote and wild
are where the atlas effort is in need of immediate volunteer
assistance. Potter County was among those mentioned.

Even if you’re not a resident of visitor to one of those more
remote counties, atlas organizers are looking for your help. They
hope to double – possibly triple – the number of people
participating in the census over the next two years.

Backyard birders are in a position to add thousands of valuable
records that normally occur on their properties and this will add
another dimension to the atlas, according to survey organizers.

More information on the project or how to participate is
available on the Breeding Bird Atlas website
(www.pabirdatlas.org).

The atlas is supported largely with federal State Wildlife Grant
funds awarded through the Game Commission, and organized and
coordinated by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History through
offices at the museum’s Powdermill Nature Reserve.