The Game Commission and Carnegie Museum of Natural History are looking for both casual and avid birdwatchers to help monitor nesting wild birds as part of the Second Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas, an ambitious five-year project (2004-2008) that is literally putting Pennsylvania's breeding birds on the map!

"Virtually every Pennsylvania resident can step outside and see or hear birds," said Dan Brauning, Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Section supervisor, project director for the Second PBBA and editor and project coordinator of the First PBBA. "At a young age most of us learn the names of some of the more common, easy-to-identify birds like American robin, blue jay, and cardinal. But what about all of the unfamiliar chirps, tweets, and musical whistles we hear coming from inside leafy bushes and atop tall trees. In fact, just how many birds call Pennsylvania 'home' anyway? You might be surprised!"

Across the state, nearly 3,000 volunteers have taken note of birds they see and hear during the spring and summer nesting season and have contributed more than 500,000 observations so far to the PBBA database. According to this statewide survey, at least 187 different species of birds nest and raise their young in our state.

To create the breeding bird atlas for Pennsylvania, the state has been divided into a grid of more than 4,700 "atlas blocks," each covering a 10-square mile area. The goal of the atlas is to compile as complete a list as possible of the bird species that breed in each and every one of these blocks.

"When all of the bird sightings reported by volunteers are plotted, block-by-block, onto a map of Pennsylvania, they will show the distribution of every species, from the most common (American Robin, found in 4,309 blocks through 2007) to the rarest, like Chuck-Wills-Widow and Black Rail (each found in just one block so far)," said Bob Mulvihill, of Carneige Museum of Natural History and Second Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas project coordinator. "Breeding bird diversity in Pennsylvania is as high as 100 or more species in dozens of individual blocks scattered throughout the state. The current statewide average is more than 60 breeding bird species per block."

From 1984 to 1989, another band of dedicated volunteers 2,000 strong conducted the First PBBA, the results of which were published in an "Atlas of Breeding Birds in Pennsylvania." Although now out of print, the book is available in many Pennsylvania public libraries and can be viewed online at the PA Breeding Bird Atlas webpage.

"Once the current PBBA work is completed and a new Atlas published, comparisons of the new maps to those in the first atlas will provide a basis for assessing the ecological health of Penn's Woods and the conservation status of all of our state birds," Mulvilhill said.

With only one month left to collect and report atlas data, there still are some 50 blocks for which nobody has submitted any data. And to date, only about 2,000 blocks can be considered "complete," meaning that Second PBBA coordinators believe most - about 75 percent or more - of the possible breeding species in those blocks have already been reported by volunteers. That leaves more than 2,500 blocks statewide where more help is needed in order to complete the project.

"Your own backyard may be in the middle of one of these incomplete blocks, and, if not, there is sure to be a block somewhere near you that needs more attention," Mulvilhill said. "So, if you see or hear birds anywhere near where you live, work, or enjoy Pennsylvania's great outdoors this summer-for example, camping, fishing, hunting or hiking-then you can help. It's not too late! But, please don't wait! This is the very last year you can add your name to the list of dedicated volunteers who have made this effort possible and be sure that at least one of those dots on one of the final maps is your report!"

To contribute to the Second PBBA, register and enter bird observations online or call the Second PBBA Main Office at 1-888-PABIRD1 (toll-free), or send an email with your name, address, date, place and details of your breeding bird observations by email to: mypabird@pabirdatlas.org .

Observations can also be mailed to Bob Mulvihill, 2nd PBBA Project Coordinator, Powdermill Avian Research Center, 1847 Rt. 381, Rector PA 15677.

The Second PBBA is funded through Pennsylvania State Wildlife Grants from the Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Wild Resource Conservation Program.

6/20/2008