Distraction Displays: Mass Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Hit List Generator: You'll Find What You're Looking For

From The Department of Missing Species

• A Rerun from a May 2010 Newsletter:
• Hit List Generator: Our colleagues at the USGS, who manage most of our data entry, have made us a really cool new tool that is available to everyone. The tool generates a Hit List of species that are missing from a block that were found during Atlas 1, and a list of species found during AT2 that were not detected during AT1. Print these out for each of your blocks that you work in, or travel through, and you have a ready-made list to focus your field work.

 

• Also, it is fascinating to just thumb through some of the lists of missing species for multiple blocks – Brown Thrasher, Bobwhite, and Kestrel come up over and over and over again.
• Go to our data entry site

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bba/index.cfm?fa=explore.ProjectHome&BBA_ID=MA2007

and choose Results, By Block.

•  Click on a topo name and block number, and click the box that says "Show Missing Species"
• Select GO, and up comes a list of the species found in Atlas 1 and Atlas.
• Up comes a list of species found in Atlas 1 but not in Atlas 2, and a list of species found in Atlas 2 but not Atlas 1.
• There is a choice to Print the Hit List.

 

Google Earth Block File

Where the heck am I?

 Just for fun, here is the Google Earth overlay that tells you the name of the block you are in when you see a bird. If anyone can get it to work on an iPhone please let me know how!

Download Atlas Block names 2

PS: If you look through the posts that have the tag "Important Documents" you'll find all sorts of good stuff - Quick Start directions, how to figure out what is missing from your block, etc. It is all there from last year.

Tip O' The Week: What Species Are Missing From My Blocks?

"One of these things is not like the other..." Sesame Street

We need to be sure we look for all the species that were in a block during Atlas 1. Some are easy to forget, because they have gotten quite rare - like Thrasher, and Bobwhite.

Luckilly there is an app for that.

•   

 

 

• Go to USGS. You don't even have to login!
• Select Results - By Block right on the front page.
• Select a Quad, then click on a Block, then hit Go.
• Up comes a summary comparing Atlas 1 to Atlas 2.
• Select view missing species in the header of the summary sheet.
• Up comes the sheet of what was found in AT1 and not AT2, and AT2 but not AT1.
• SWEET.
• Click Print on the header to get a copy of the sheet.

 

Reporting State Listed and Rare Species: Which Species Need Maps and Forms

"I arise in the morning torn between the desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." E. B. White

 There are two different sets of species for which we'd like more information than a simple BBA 2 data point - State Listed species, and rare and local species. 

The State Listed Species are those breeding bird species which the Commonwealth has listed as Special Concern, Threatened or Endangered. Their reports become official state documents, and these reports are an important source of new records for the state's Natural Heritage database. These species needs maps to their location and forms (see form download below).

The rare or local birds are a bit of a hodgepodge - they all share the characteristics that either their numbers are declining, they are new breeders in the state, or their natural nest sites are limited, AND they have no extra state protection. Because of these reasons, we want extra info on these potentially at-risk critters.  

Species in both these categories are listed with a pretty self-explanatory alpha code in you 2010 checklists under the Status column.

When reporting using paper maps and forms (aka the old fashioned way), the maps of the location of the focal species can be either xeroxed block maps, or any other high quality map. Please mark the spot with an "X", and include the species name, your name, the date, and the breeding code.

Rare bird reporting forms, which can be included for all reports, but MUST be included for all State Listed species, are found on the Mass Audubon Atlas Methods page, or can be downloaded here.

Download Massachusetts_BBA2_Rare_Bird_Reporting_Form

We will make some minor changes to the online reporting tool in the next few weeks (expanded below). Those forms, you will remember are reached by going to your My Contributions page at the USGS website. Scroll down to see the links to the online reporting tool.

If you only read this far PLEASE ADD SALTMARSH SHARP-TAILED SPARROW TO THIS LIST AS AN 'L', AND SUBMIT MAPS OF COLONY/NEST SITE LOCATIONS. For the rest of you who choose to read on, we'll expand with a few thoughts on the species coded N, L, C, and I.

(Photo: Copyright Jerry Ligori)

Hit List Generator

"Lists are anti-democratic, discriminatory, elitist, and sometimes the print is too small." David Ives

  Our colleagues at the USGS, who manage most of our data entry, have made us a really cool new tool that is available to everyone. The tool generates a Hit List of species that are missing from a block that were found during Atlas 1, and a list of species found during AT2 that were not detected during AT1. Print these out for each of your blocks that you work in, or travel through, and you have a ready-made list to focus your field work.

o   Also, it is fascinating to just thumb through some of the lists of missing species for multiple blocks – Brown Thrasher, Bobwhite, and Kestrel come up over and over and over again.

o   Go to our data entry site (http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bba/index.cfm?fa=explore.ProjectHome&BBA_ID=MA2007)  and choose Results, By Block.

§  Click on a topo name and block number,

§  select GO, and up comes a list of the species found in Atlas 1 and Atlas.

§  Up Comes the Results by Block page, that looks like this….

• 

 

§  Now, Click the green highlighted text that says “View Missing Species”.

§  Up comes a list of species found in Atlas 1 but not in Atlas 2, and a list of species found in Atlas 2 but not Atlas 1.

§  It looks like this…. (Note: There is a choice to Print the Hit List).

Massachusetts 2007-2011
Missing Species in 0171 / Ashburnham - 01	Print | Close
Species found in Atlas 1 but not in Atlas 2
NONE. All species from Atlas 1 have been found in Atlas 2.  Way to go!! You're awesome!
Species found in Atlas 2 but not in Atlas 1
Canada Goose Ruffed Grouse Broad-winged Hawk Mourning Dove Ruby-throated Hummingbird Red-bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted Flicker) Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Wood-Pewee Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse

§  Remember that this does not take the place of the info that comes from the page called Block Results Detail (BRD). BRD becomes available after you log in, and includes hours spent in the block and also has the option of printing a list of all species names found in the state even if they were never found in the block. But it does not generate a handy Hit List like this page does

BBA2 Newsletter May 19, 2010 - Hit List Generator

Atlas Newslettered Again!

  Download Mass BBA2 Newsletter May 19 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Photo: John Galluzzo)

Dendroica: Environment Canada's Bird ID Training Website

The Chair Recognizes Our Neighbors to the North

We want to encourage those of you who feel your bird image and song ID could be improved to use the new website that Environment Canada, USGS, Partner's in Flight and a few other partners have created. It is called Dendroica (rolls right off the tongue, if you speak warbler, really) and will honestly help you learn and improve your bird ID skills.

It takes a few minutes, and a pair of return emails, to register, but once you are registered you are off to the races. Did I mention it is free?

You can your set of lists to display a list that is Massachusetts birds, excluding Rare and non-breeding, and the list that you are trained on and are quizzed with. The list that is auto-generated is really close to the actual list of breeding birds in Massachusetts - there are a few add-ons, but they are sort of fun. You can also create a custom list (do I really have to learn all the vireos every year? it appears so!) and Dendroica includes all the species in North America, so it'll be great for traveling or other surveys. 

Below the fold is the email announcing the program, and I will follow up with some specific tweaks that seem to work for me. You should be able to figure it out with a little button pushing and exploration though.

One bit of bad news - the audio requires Flash, which is no problem for Mac or PC desktops/laptops, and some Smaty-pants-phones. For us iPhone-iTouch-iPad folks though, the audio doesn't work (damn you Steve Jobs!). For us iPhone folk there is the iBird app and the Sibley app - but that is for another post.

(Kudos to me for getting through the whole post without a single "aye" joke, a curling joke, or a picture of a Mountie.)

Important Document: Excel File of Safe Dates

In Spring a young atlaser's thoughts turn to data sorting.

Here is an Excel file of the Safe Dates and breeding habitats for Massachusetts breeding birds. 

Download 2010 Species Safe Dates Habs

You can sort by the beginning of the Safe Dates by sorting the Safe Date column, by the end of the Safe Date by sorting on the  Safe Dates End column, and get if back into taxonomic order by sorting on the Taxonomic Sort column.

These data are also available on the USGS data entry website, on the Species Info page at 

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bba/index.cfm?fa=explore.SpeciesList&sortBy=taxonomic&BBA_ID=MA2007.

Testing Goggle .kml Blockbusting File

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain - Unless He Has Some Kibble

There are more steps required to turn the data you enter into a Google Earth overlay (called a .kml file) then there are to making Julia Child's Cassoulet - and I know which one is more rewarding.

Anyway, this is a test .kml file - all you should have to do is click on the download and it ought to boot Google Earth and show you the outlines and names of the blocks that need blockbutsing.If you zoom in a bit the names will center on the blocks - they are a bit wonky when it first loads.

You need to have Google Earth installed on your computer.But its cool -you should have it anyway.

Here goes...Download BBA_II_blocks_6

(Update: it seems to work OK, the symbology could probably be better, but the point is clear. Let us know if it works for you.On a Mac I clicked on it, then had to launch Google Earth - it didn't automatically launch Earth. )

PLEASE, if you can, offer to help in these blocks - John Galluzzo is the Regional Coordinator of the Bristol Plymouth blocks that need help (jgalluzzo@massaudubon.org) and rene Laubach is the Regional Coordinator of the Berkshire blocks that need help (rlaubach@massaudubon.org)

Excel File of Safe Dates

Yeah! More spreadsheets!

Here is a very useful spreadsheet of species names, opening and closing Safe Dates for each species, and a rough habitat description of where to find the species.

Download Safe dates and habitats

Right now it is sorted by the opening Safe Date, but you can switch it to the closing safe date by doing a sort on it in Excel or Numbers.

CRITICAL BONUS INFO (that I really hope is OLD NEWS): Safe Dates are the dates that you can use the Possible and Probable codes. The Courtship code in Probable, and ALL Confirmed codes can be used ANY TIME that you observe them, and the bird is in BREEDING habitat.

This same file can be found on the USGS data entry website by going to the Home Page and clicking on Species Info, or use this handy link: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bba/index.cfm?fa=explore.SpeciesList&BBA_ID=MA2007

This information can also be found in your handbook, and on your checklists, but those sources are not sortable.