Nearly 35 years ago, Vermont pioneered the first statewide effort to map the distribution of all bird species breeding within its borders. The Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas, published in 1985, has been an indispensable tool for state agencies and conservation organizations ever since.
Now, after more than a quarter century of changes in land use, climate, and myriad other factors that affect where birds breed, results from the second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas are available to the public.
For five years, citizen scientists scoured fields, traversed forests, and endured black flies, mosquitos, and broken ankles to collect the more than 30,000 observations that comprise the Atlas database. Their hard work has been compiled, analyzed, summarized, and interpreted to document changes in the state’s bird distributions since the first Atlas.
Complete with detailed accounts for each species, summaries of results, distribution maps, and tables, the Atlas website will be a hallmark reference for anyone needing accessible information on the status of birds that breed in Vermont.
A full-color hard cover Atlas book is now in production and scheduled for release in early 2013. Complete with maps, data tables, full-text species accounts, photos, and interpretive chapters, the publication will serve as a rich, attractive, and user-friendly resource for birders, natural resource managers, and the conservation-interested public.
A State Wildlife Grant from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department (VFWD) was the major funding source for the Atlas project and website.
Results from the Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas
WCAX news coverage
