Trying to count all the Greene County birds
Third state Bird Atlas takes flight with enthusiastic local support
“The Third PA Bird Atlas has officially fledged.”
When my freshly minted copy of this year’s official “Pennsylvania Bird Atlas 3 – 2024 -2029” appeared in my email in mid-February, the chipper image of a titmouse perched on an orange cutout of the state was a welcome sighting. At last! Titmice have been feasting at feeders and foraging in forests across the state all winter. Now, this little bird will be the PBA 3 mascot for the next five years — from breeding season to the newly added Atlas Winter bird count. Counting in winter will allow titmice and other native species to be documented for a complete cycle as they mate, raise their young, winter over or just pass through Penn’s Woods.
Why an Atlas?
The news release and its accompanying handouts let us know that of the 285 species in the state, 190 of them nest here, and 20 are endangered. The Atlas 3 project will help detect the changes in avian populations, and this data will be used to inform the “conservation of birds and protection of habitat in PA.”
And yes, “The Atlas is for everyone! New and experienced birders can all participate.”
This five-year count is in its third 20-year cycle, documenting Pennsylvania’s bird populations. For many veteran birders, from backyard enthusiasts to scientists, ornithologists, teachers and students, the count was already on before the official word arrived.
Eagles and owls begin nesting before the New Year, and by February, birders across the state, including Greene County, had been reporting them to Atlas 3, along with rock doves and house sparrows. Many of this year’s veteran birdwatchers also participated in Atlas 2, which finished in 2009. The 2009 numbers provided the first two-decade measure of population and species decline against what was gathered by the first Atlas in the mid-1980s. Before Internet access, reports were filed on paper. Paper maps, gridded to mark the 77 “blocks” that create Greene County’s count zones, were used for reference.
At the February meeting of the Ralph K. Bell Bird Club, longtime member Kathy Kern unfolded the big paper map of Greene County that she’s used for years and pointed to one of the gridded three-mile squares near her home. “I worked on the first Atlas with Ralph Bell, and I still bring my maps with me because you can’t always get a signal where the birds are!”
We members had come this evening to enjoy our monthly potluck dinner, then get down to the business of learning to use eBird as a portal to PBA 3. Using the geo-positioning and data-gathering power of the Internet allows volunteers to relay numbers anchored in time and place instantly. Not to worry — for those with no coverage, the paper trail is still available to be substituted and submitted online by others, club president Marjorie Howard assured us. “We’re here to learn to use eBird, and it’s not that hard. It just takes practice.”
Member David Argent, professor in the biology, Earth and environmental science department at Pennwest California, had Howard’s laptop open, and every smartphone was out as he fielded questions and helped members connect their eBird apps to the PBA 3 portal. Argent also pulled up maps and diagrams that explained the code letters for sightings and the months in which the bird was nesting. Members gathered around the table to take screenshots to decipher later. Howard passed out copies of the PBA 3 volunteer handbook and scheduled another learning session for March 18. By all means, bring others with you, she said. “We need more birders. None of the blocks in West Greene have been taken by a Principal Atlaser but remember, you can submit sightings in any block you’re birding in.”
I took my volunteer handbook home and, the next morning over coffee, searched for the birds whose declining numbers have placed them in Appendix D — “Documenting priority and sensitive species.” Learning to identify these birds seemed like a good place to start.
Greene County is of particular interest to the Atlas project, Howard pointed out later when we met in Waynesburg to continue working on this story. “We’re one of the most under-birded counties in the state. That’s why PSO came here last year. We need more people to get involved. We just don’t have enough volunteers yet to cover all the blocks for the most accurate count.”
When members of the Pennsylvania Society of Ornithology took a field trip to Greene County on May 1, 2023, they came to do a pre-Atlas nesting count at the Enlow Fork of Wheeling Creek that separates Greene and Washington counties. Bird club members and wildflower enthusiasts from Greene and surrounding counties joined them — we were eager to learn more. As we trekked among wildflowers, watching and listening as warblers courted in the canopy and an osprey chased an eagle above the big creek, our network to grow Atlas 3 in Greene County found its wings.
Support for this important environmental project comes from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, using resources offered by Cornell University with eBird, the flagship app for counting birds across the nation and around the world.
The popular app Merlin can also be helpful as a backup for new birders.
Merlin on a smartphone will capture images and sounds that can be verified later by more experienced volunteers, Atlas coordinator Amber Wiewel told me when I contacted her at the sanctuary in Kempton, Pa.
I described our ongoing efforts to network with area universities, school districts, scout groups and libraries to include students in this five-year project, along with spreading the word to anyone wishing to go beyond their backyard feeders. Wiewel texted an enthusiastic reply. “We are so excited to have the support of birders and educators in Greene County who are not only contributing data to the Atlas but also incorporating birding and Atlasing into their educational programs to help produce the next generation of birders and environmentalists!”
For more information, search for Pa Atlas 3 for an extensive list of web pages and organizations connected to this program.
To register for the March 18 eBird training for PBA 3 with Ralph K. Bell Bird Club, email Marjorie Howard at rkbellbirdclub@yahoo.com.