Tweeters and Inland Birders,



Many of you participated in the Washington Breeding Bird Atlas project
between 1987 and 1995, or the follow-up atlas project in King, Kittitas,
Kitsap, and Island Counties, WA, which continued through 2002. As you know,
"atlassing" can be fun as well as providing valuable data.



British Columbia is starting its first Breeding Bird Atlas project this
year, with data collection to take place from 2008 through 2012. (Most other
Canadian provinces have already completed a Breeding Bird Atlas, and
Alberta, Ontario, and the Maritime Provinces have all recently completed
their second Breeding Bird Atlases).



We would welcome participation by Washington and Idaho birders-even a day or
two of your time would be helpful. You could combine it with a vacation trip
to some part of BC, or those of you living close to the Canadian border
might want to be the lead observer for one or more atlas squares.

If you decide to participate, we encourage you to first contact the Regional
Coordinator for the area you're interested in, so that you can direct your
efforts to where they are needed the most.



I am attaching a message from Dick Cannings of Bird Studies Canada-- the
lead agency of about 7 government and non-government groups which are
partners in the project. (By the way, Dick and I both made significant
contributions to the Washington BBA.)



If you're interested, please visit the website and register. Not all parts
of the website are functional yet, but if you register, you will get regular
updates on the project and how to take part in it. Also, we will continue to
post updates at least occasionally on TWEETERS and INLAND-NW-BIRDERS.



My involvement in the Atlas project is as a member of the Technical
Committee, which is currently fine-tuning the procedures that will be
followed, and reviewing a draft "Atlaser Handbook" for participants. The
overall Atlas Coordinator is Dr. Rob Butler, recently retired from the
Canadian Wildlife Service in Delta.



Thanks in advance for your participation in the Atlas project!



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net









From: bcbirds at yahoogroups.com [mailto:bcbirds at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Dick Cannings
Sent: January-18-08 11:42 AM
To: bcintbird; bcbirds; bcvibirds; vanisland; wkbirds at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bcbirds] BC Breeding Bird Atlas--the website and registration are
open!



Hi birders:

The website for the BC Breeding Bird Atlas project is now officially open!
We were a bit rushed into this by the offer of a prominent article in the
Vancouver Sun newspaper on Jan. 17, so not all links are functional. The
registration page is open, though, so now is a good time to get your name
and contact info online so that we can keep you up-to-date as other parts of
the website, such as maps, instructional kits, and data entry (I'm already
hearing from people who have found nesting birds and want to report them!)
are available.

The website URL is http://www.birdatlas.bc.ca . You can register by clicking
the "Get Involved" menu and selecting "Register for the Atlas".

If you have any questions about the atlas project, feel free to contact me
directly at dickcannings at shaw.ca <mailto:dickcannings%40shaw.ca> .

Happy atlassing!

Dick Cannings
Naramata, BC




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