Leaves are turning gold and frost covers the grassy fields here in the mountains of southwest Virginia. Drab little Cape May and Tennessee Warblers flit through the tree lines, while streams of Common Nighthawks track southward through the river valleys. These heralds of Autumn signal a finale that was hard to imagine nearly five years […]
A few quick reminders… The summer breeding season continues to wind down as more and more migratory species begin gathering in preparation for their southward flight. As the Atlas project wraps this final data collection season, we wanted to remind our volunteers that the time has come to dispense with regular use of breeding codes.
Bringing an end to data collection for the second VA Breeding Bird Atlas project. The start of this year’s Fall migration season marks the final phase of our five-year VABBA2 journey.
If you can believe it, we are now far enough into the latter portion of the breeding season that a few early migratory species are on the move. This means, we need to start adjusting how we code the early movers on Atlas checklists.
A big final-season push is bringing interesting finds and spectacular statistics from across the state. Learn more about them below.
It came seemingly out of nowhere: Last month, my nine-year-old daughter, Zoe, flung open my office door mid-workday and, in a fluster of excitement, announced she’d been “birdy watching” and seen “a Gray Catbird!” Before I could process the statement, an open copy of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern […]
This past spring, things were looking grim for the second Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas: COVID-19 was rampaging across the U.S. and stay-at-home orders had shut down the state.
College students Logan Anderson and Andrew Rapp spent two months camping and birding in remote areas for the VABBA2 and VABBA-PC. The sun is rising over rural Buchanan County and 20-year-old Logan Anderson is sitting on the hood of his car on the shoulder of a gravel fire road, listening intently.
College-aged field technicians are gaining valuable professional experience working with the VABBA2—and having awesome adventures along the way. Did you know that 15 mostly college-aged field technicians have been working with the VABBA2 coordinator to conduct Virginia’s first comprehensive avian point-count study?
Bob Epperson was uniquely qualified when the second Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas launched in 2016: He’d spent more than 30 years conducting avian surveys as a contract biological consultant for conservation organizations and agencies. The work carried him up and down the East Coast, but was primarily based in Florida.
