Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas

The Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas Project sent out an announcement today that they are now ready to assign priority blocks. This is a wonderful citizen science project and I highly recommend getting involved. The project is new to Minnesota but has been done elsewhere. The project aims to create an atlas of where species breed in the state. To take part, you have to make a commitment to bird an area (you can take up to five years) looking for any and all signs of what species are breeding there. It is a lot of fun and a great way to help further our understanding of birds while having fun outdoors.

Get your blocks while they're hot!

Co-host Paul Smithson and I just selected the block that includes the Lee & Rose Warner Nature Center where we work. We'll be sure to share some of the data we collect via the blog and the podcast.

Here are the instructions from coordinator Bonnie Sample:

Just head over to http://bird.atlasing.org/Atlas/MN to register, request your block and start entering data. All participants in the Atlas project must be registered on this site, developed by Cornell Lab of Ornithology to support breeding bird atlas projects.

After you register, you will be on your My Home page. To request a Priority Block, enter the Priority Block ID in the Block ID field on the left side of the page and click Block ID. There is a link to “Request to own this block” on the Block Profile page which will send your request to the Regional Coordinator. A response will be returned to you by email. If you don’t know the block ID, you can use the maps on the Cornell site.

Be sure to read the pdf documents at the bottom of the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas homepage before you sign up for a block so you know what you are getting yourself into.

Good Luck!

~Kirk