March Challenge: Early Breeders

Monthly challenges are back! Each month from March through August we will highlight a timely aspect of the Atlas that moves us closer to our goal, while giving you the chance to win some cool prizes and be featured on our website!

In March, the challenge is to document the early nesting species we featured in the latest guide. For every checklist with a coded early breeding species, you will be entered for a chance to win this month’s prize—an Atlas cap! Winners will be randomly selected from all eligible checklists.

See results below!

Below are the 30 early breeding species that qualify for the March challenge. Tips for finding them can be found in the guide.

• Owls
  • Barn Owl
  • Great Horned Owl
  • Barred Owl
  • Eastern Screech-Owl
• Other Raptors
  • Bald Eagle
  • Golden Eagle
  • Northern Goshawk
  • Peregrine Falcon
  • Red-tailed Hawk
• Game Birds
  • Ruffed Grouse
  • Spruce Grouse
  • American Woodcock
  • Wild Turkey
• Corvids
  • Canada Jay
  • Common Raven
  • American Crow
  • Fish Crow
• Cavity Nesters
  • Red-bellied Woodpecker
  • White-breasted Nuthatch
  • Red-breasted Nuthatch
  • Black-capped Chickadee
• City Slickers
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Mourning Dove
  • House Sparrow
  • European Starling
  • Monk Parakeet
• Misfits
  • Horned Lark
  • Northern Cardinal
  • Red Crossbill
  • White-winged Crossbill

March Statistics

There were 9,301 entries of 26 species with the top three coded species being Northern Cardinal (2326 observations), Mourning Dove (1180), and Black-capped Chickadee (1058). Of the 543 atlasers who submitted breeding codes in March, Suzanne Kavic was randomly chosen for her observation of a White-breasted Nuthatch.