winter atlas

Two months of atlas field work left

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With the end of the year comes the end of Early Winter data collection for the atlas.  There’s still a little time, for owls at least, but now it’s just a matter of sharing any lingering eBird checklists or mailing in data forms so that we can wrap things up for that, penultimate, portion of the project.

Two months ago, we still had lots of gaping holes in our attempt to get a decent number of surveys in every block. Thanks to the great efforts of many people, and the truly exceptional efforts of a distinct few, we’ve managed to fill most of those gaps and will end the atlas with a impressive statewide sampling of Connecticut’s early winter birds.

Now, we need to do the same for the late winter. Continue reading →

Last chance to add to the early winter atlas maps

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(Note, this post repeats information recently published in the COA Bulletin, but the maps have been updated.)

As year’s end approaches, we are almost half-way through the final winter of data collection for the Connecticut Bird Atlas. This means that there are only two more weeks in which to add data for the early winter period. Coverage for this period has improved greatly, and many blocks have now reached the target of 10 survey hours between 1 November and 31 December:

Map of Connecticut showing percent completion for early winter atlas surveys by map block as of December 14, 2021

Survey coverage during the early winter period (Nov-Dec) for the Connecticut Bird Atlas. Blocks are considered complete once they have received 10 hours of survey effort.

There are still plenty of  blocks that are far from this target, however; especially in the northeastern corner of the state, central-western and far southwest Connecticut, and scattered places throughout the state’s interior. The highest priority blocks are those that have received less than 3 hours of surveys, with those with less than an hour (often zero) especially likely to benefit from even a short visit (click here for a larger version of the map):

Map of Connecticut displaying target blocks for winter surveys as of December 14, 2021Blocks that have received less than 3 hours of surveying during the early winter period (Nov-Dec) are the highest priority for visits before the new year.

With Christmas Counts and the holidays about to begin (and lapwings and grey geese to chase), it’s a busy time, but if you can spare a few hours to visit one of these high priority blocks, it will really help us wrap up the early winter work.

 

COA’s Big January: prizes galore!!

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Many Connecticut birders will know that the Connecticut Ornithological Association has a long history of running a friendly competition every January, in which birders seek to find as many species as possible before the month ends. This year, the COA has changed the competition to encourage participation in the atlas. And to raise the stakes there are some seriously impressive prizes available. Continue reading →

Atlas while you Christmas Count

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Christmas Bird Count season is upon us. The first Connecticut count is on Tuesday, making today the start of Count Week for those of us in the Storrs area. (For a complete list of counts, click here.) All data collected during a Christmas Count can also be used for the winter atlas, of course, although doing this requires a little planning.

The easiest way to ensure that data can be used for the atlas is to enter observations directly into eBird, with a separate checklist for each site that you visit. Then, as with regular atlas work, simply share the checklist with “ctbirdatlas” and the data will come straight to us. If you are not an eBird user, then you can use the data forms on the atlas web site.

The one tricky part is that it is crucial to ensure that all birds on a given checklist fall within a single atlas block, as Christmas Count territories do not always align neatly with atlas block boundaries. For example, the area I survey on the Storrs count is a roughly diamond-shaped area between  routes 195, 44, 32, and 175. As you can see from the image below, this area lies almost entirely within block 40D.

A map highlighting how one Christmas Bird Count territory overlaps between several atlas blocks

But, the two corners circled in yellow, fall in the adjacent blocks to the east and south. Consequently, when I’m in these parts of the territory, I have to remember to keep separate lists for birds seen on either side of the boundary.

The reason this matters is that all observations are assigned to blocks based on the point location for the checklist (the “pin” that you see on an eBird map). If that pin is in one block and you wander into the adjacent block, then we have no way of knowing which birds were seen in which block. Even if you add comments to the checklist, there is no way for us to subdivide the records into separate blocks except by re-entering all of the data into new checklists.

A good way to keep track of exactly where you are, relative to block boundaries, is to download the Google Earth app to your phone. On the atlas web site, we also have a .kml file showing the block boundaries, that you can save to your phone and then view in Google Earth. We’ve written about this before, but the key steps are:

    • Download the Google Earth app.
    • Save the block boundary map to your phone. Instructions on how to download the map can be found on the atlas web site here, and the map itself is here. Beware that these instructions were written for an iPhone in 2018 and some details might have changed, or might differ slightly on other devices.
    • Add the block boundary map to Google Earth. On my current phone, this is a little different from 2018, but I found that these instructions worked well when I tried this afternoon.

As a bonus, we also have a file that you can download to show the Christmas Bird Count circles. If you save this and pull it up in Google Earth, you will get an image that looks like this one (note that we are missing a couple of recently added count circles):

Map of Connecticut showing the Connecticut Christmas Bird Count circles and the corresponding atlas blocks

With this in hand, you can zoom in to wherever you are, look for the blue dot to see your location, and make sure that you know which side of a block boundary you are on. By viewing both the block map and count circle map together, you can also make sure you stay within the circle.

To give another example, this next map shows my territory for the Moosup area of the Trailwoods Christmas Count. Most of my area in is blocks 44E and 59A, but it also includes the portion of 58B that lies east of 395. The green arc in the bottom left corner, shows the edge of the count circle, so keeping the app open lets me check to make sure I know exactly which block I’m in, and whether I’m staying with the Christmas Count circle.

A map highlighting showing the boundaries of atlas block 59A and the adjacent Christmas Bird Count circle

One last thing. If you have used Google Earth in the past, but have found that the block grid sometimes disappears (this can happen, for example, after upgrading the app), we have instructions for how to “pin” the grid in place so that it is always visible when you open the app (thanks to Chris Howe for providing these, and to others for testing them).

 

Where to atlas next?

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In the last couple of weeks, we’ve received several emails from people who have completed the target hours in their blocks, and are trying to decide where their efforts can now most benefit the atlas. Although we have general priorities, there are enough blocks that need work that we don’t have a simple prioritized list. Nonetheless, there are simple strategies that everyone can use to make a decision about where they can help the most. Continue reading →

Report those owls!

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A hooting great horned owl in my yard last night, prompts me to remind everyone that, although we are still in the depths of the winter atlas, we are also a month into the reporting safe dates for Connecticut’s largest nesting owl.  Any great horneds heard or seen between now and June should be considered potential breeders.  If they are in breeding habitat, then they will count for both the breeding and winter atlases. Continue reading →