Subject: Re: Breeding Bird Atlas
Date: Jan 21 21:29:38 1996
From: "M. Smith" - whimbrel at u.washington.edu


On Sat, 20 Jan 1996, Kelly Mcallister wrote:
> 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.

Hi Kelly and tweets. Kelly, thanks for the flattering comments. I will
admit they represent alot of hard work, it's nice to see them
appreciated. First, a 'technical' note. If you're seeing an index to
the species via the WDFW codes, than you've probably opened the wrong
URL, and are seeing an index of the directory the maps are in. The
proper URL is:

http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/birds/birds.html

This *should* provide a few notes about the maps and the BBA, plus
connections to the maps by an index of common names.

> 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.

Amen. Most of the falcon data comes from DNR or WDFW, with the exception of
Kestrels, which are widely reported. Merlin nesting sites are extremely
hard to come across, plus there are problems with several of the reported
ones. For example, 'Merlins' nesting in pilings in the Pend Oreille
River (probably Kestrels?), and a report of richardsoni Merlin
fledgelings taken near Goldendale. Keep in mind the nearest richardsoni
nesting areas are about 1,000 miles away. So some editing of data was
necessary.

> 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?

This is probably a reflection of BBA reporting more than the actual
population having gone extinct. Colonial alcids are virtually absent
from the BBA data, with the exception of Bob Paine's Tatoosh reports.
Our fallback was to use locations from Speich & Wahl's comprehensive
report. Most locations in the report are pre-BBA, but not by much (1-3
years), so it's better than nothing (IMHO).

> 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.

I'll check to make sure the Great Egret map is available (it should be).
I have nesting records for that species from Potholes Reservoir, Columbia
NWR, the Hanford Site, and Saddle Mt. area. As for Pigeon Guillemots, it
is again the same problem as with Common Murres. In the printed version,
text accounts will clear up this confusion.

-------------
Michael R. Smith
Univ. of Washington, Seattle
whimbrel at u.washington.edu
http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html