I just got personal (non-work related) internet access and Netscape. I
spent some time looking at the breeding bird atlas maps that Michael Smith
and others have been working long and hard to produce. They are impressive.
This looks to me to be high quality work. I mainly reviewed maps for species
that the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) considers species of special
concern because I am most familiar with them. I know WDFW data were used in
many of these maps so it is not too surprising that many of them fit well
with my concept of these species' distributions. However, it was also obvious
that the compilers of these data (and the volunteers who did field searches)
obtained substantial amounts of data that the WDFW does not have.

I am curious what others think of these maps. They may be difficult for most
users to access because the index uses WDFW species codes derived from
scientific name rather than common name.

I noted some problems that I will bring to Michael Smith's attention.
They are fairly minor and I won't mention all of them here.
However, it is obvious that some of the knowledgeable falcon folks have
not contributed. I think that merlin nests (one or two) have been found in
Whatcom and/or Skagit County but they are not showing up.

All of the Common Murre localities shown are pre-1987. I know the species
has dwindled to near nothing as a Washington breeder but haven't a small number
re-established nesting recently?

The marbled murrelet map is fascinating, so many locations at a great distance
from the marine shoreline, so few very close to it. For some species, like
pileated woodpecker, you can see a sampling bias towards the places where
people are concentrated. There are no double-crested cormorants shown on
Hanford. I thought they were known to nest there (?). Great egrets appear
not to be included at all, yet I know they nest in the Columbia Basin (I
looked for the code "caal" for Casmerodius albus). Pigeon guillemots appear
to be under-represented in the southern Puget Sound and all of the outer
coast locations appear to be pre-1987, giving the impression that the species
has been extirpated as a breeder there. I suspect the area simply wasn't
surveyed during the 1987-1994 period.

Anyway, I hope we can get some review and feedback going to make an already
fine product that much better.

Kelly McAllister