The annual Big Atlas Weekend is back! From 6PM on Friday, June 23 to midnight on Sunday, June 25, explore somewhere different, record new observations for the Atlas, and be entered for a chance to win a free Bird Academy course of your choice. This year’s event includes bird atlas projects from Newfoundland, Ontario, New York, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and of course, Maryland & DC.
Participating is easy: just go atlasing! Submit complete checklists with breeding codes to the Atlas portal from incomplete blocks; you can view a map of incomplete blocks here. And don’t forget to join us for a kickoff trivia night!
Schedule
- June 21 @ 6 pm EDT – Kickoff and Bird Trivia. The six atlas coordinators will introduce the event, go over the challenges and prizes, and answer any questions. Then, you will have your bird knowledge challenged with a session of bird trivia (registration required; click this link to register).
- June 22 @ 7 pm EDT – Intro to Atlasing. If you’re new to atlasing or would just like a refresher, join coordinator Gabriel Foley to learn atlasing essentials, eBird tips, and strategies to maximize your time in the field (event details).
- June 23–25 – Big Atlas Weekend! Go atlasing in any of the six participating regions from 6 pm on Friday to 11:59 pm on Sunday.
- June 28 @ 6 pm EDT – Awards ceremony. Enjoy highlights from the weekend, meet atlasers from other regions, and find out who won the individual and region awards (registration required; click this link to register).
All event details are posted on Facebook.
How to Participate
Go atlasing between 6:00 pm Friday, June 23 and 11:59 pm Sunday, June 25 and submit your checklist to the MD-DC Atlas portal in eBird.
If you are new to atlasing, check out the Atlasing Essentials and attend the special training offered on June 22nd.
Challenges
Contributing to community science is terrific, but it’s even more terrific when you can contribute to community science and get a Bird Academy course of your choice, free! One winner will be randomly selected from each of the categories below. Eligible checklists must be complete and submitted to the MD-DC Atlas portal between 6 pm June 23 and 11:59 pm June 25. Social media posts must be public.
- Nocturnal checklists submitted between 20 minutes after sunset and 40 minutes before sunrise
- Newly coded or upgraded species in a block
- Checklists with breeding codes from an incomplete block
- Atlas-related photos on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with @mddcbba3 tagged.
Inter-atlas Competition
To make this event even more exciting, the six participating atlas projects are all engaging in a (mostly) friendly competition. The winning project will receive the Big Atlas Weekend trophy and have their region engraved on it. Maine has won both previous years—but the Maine Bird Atlas is done now! Who will take the trophy home in 2023??
The winning region will be selected using their standardized rank in each of those same three inter-atlas challenges (nocturnal checklists, newly coded or upgraded species, and checklists from incomplete blocks). The region with the highest cumulative rank will become the overall winning region of the Big Atlas Weekend—and recipient of the trophy!
Background Information
- What is the Atlas portal? The portal is a label for your checklist so that we know you were atlasing and following project guidelines. You can change your portal in the eBird app’s Settings. Learn more in the Atlasing Essentials.
- What is a complete checklist? A complete checklist means you made an effort to find and record all the birds around you to the best of your ability. Read a more comprehensive explanation here.
- What is an incomplete block? Each atlas block has a set of completion targets they must meet by the end of the project in 2024. Incomplete blocks have not met these targets yet and require more atlasing. You can view a map of incomplete blocks here.
- Is there a way to know if a checklist is nocturnal? A checklist that fits eBird’s nocturnal criteria will have label next to the date that says, “Nocturnal”, like this checklist:
- What is an upgraded species? Each block has a list of birds with breeding codes and these codes are grouped into three categories: Possible, Probable, and Confirmed. When you apply a breeding code in a higher category than the bird’s current breeding code in that block, you “upgrade” that species. For example, if a Brown Thrasher is currently coded as code S (a singing bird), it is in the Possible category. If you find a pair of thrashers in that same block (code P), you have upgraded thrashers to the Probable category. If someone else finds a thrasher nest in that block (code ON), they can then upgrade thrashers to Confirmed. Read more about breeding codes here.
- How can I easily figure out where to go atlasing? To see where your atlasing effort will be most valuable and to find useful information about each block, use The Rich Data Explorer.
- Who can I contact if I have questions? If you have a question you can’t find the answer to, you can ask your County Coordinator.