We heard your feedback about the excessive time it takes to complete blocks according to the stringent block coverage guidelines, so we have officially revised two of the guidelines to bring them more in line with our goals. We want to ensure we reach all priority blocks with an adequate level of effort. What we don’t want is people spending lots of time trying to confirm one or two birds when they could be covering another block.
The revised block coverage guidelines are (revisions in red):
- Visited at 3+ times of year (e.g., April, June, July)
- All accessible habitat types in a block are visited
- 20+ hours of daytime birding
- 55-95+ species reported (highly variable throughout the state)
- 45 species or 67% of reported species marked as ‘Probable’ or ‘Confirmed’ [formerly 50% confirmed]
- 2+ hours of nocturnal birding (highly recommended) [formerly required]
The Atlas Team is in the process of reviewing all blocks to assess whether they meet the new guidelines so you will start to see more black squares on the Atlas Effort Map. Be sure to check the map before you head out and target blocks that still need work!
If you think a block meets the guidelines, please email your Regional Coordinator and they will evaluate the block for completion.
For more detailed instructions on how to assess a block, read this post.