SECOND BREEDING BIRD ATLAS SURVEY DOCUMENTS IMPORTANT CHANGES More help sought by Atlas organizers, especially rural area volunteers Press Release     HARRISBURG - More than 1,400 volunteers have already signed up to participate in the most extensive nesting bird survey ever attempted in the state, the 2nd Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas (PBBA) - a five-year project being directed and coordinated jointly by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Carnegie Museum of Natural History.          However, the coordinators of the state's largest and most important breeding bird survey in 15 years still are looking for volunteers to help record information about the myriad species that nest in the Commonwealth's forests, fields and wetlands.          "This is history in the making," noted Dan Brauning, project director and Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Section supervisor. "It's a chance for anyone who cares about bird conservation to help make a difference for songbirds, and to be involved in the most ambitious and important nesting bird survey ever undertaken in Pennsylvania.          "The first Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas was conducted from 1983 to 1989 and more than 2,000 people participated in the undertaking. It was at tremendous effort that helped reinforce the importance of bird conservation among Pennsylvanians by identifying or confirming those species staging comebacks and those that were in trouble. The new Atlas aims to top the first effort by attracting more participants and incorporating refined methods to measure species abundance, particularly secretive and rare species."          The second Atlas started last spring and will continue through summer 2008. Participants sign up to search for or report on nesting birds in specific 10-square mile geographic grids of Pennsylvania's nearly 45,000 square miles. Every individual who decides to help with the survey can choose his or her level of involvement. Whether a birder provides one or 100 entries, every record adds measurably to the Atlas' ambitious goals.          "Truly, anyone can help; birdwatchers of all age, skill and experience levels are welcome," noted Bob Mulvihill, a field ornithologist at Carnegie Museum's Powdermill Nature Preserve, who is serving as the Atlas project coordinator. "Monitoring 'Pennsylavian' biodiversity is a big and important job - as well as exciting and fun, so please consider joining the effort and helping to spread the word about the work we're doing to anyone you know who shares your interest in birds. Our goal is to have 5,000 volunteer birdwatchers registered to do Atlas work by this December. That will mean bringing more than twice as many new volunteers into the effort this year, compared to last. This added help is most urgently needed in the state's rural areas, especially in the northern counties.          "Pennsylvania has an estimated 2.7 million birdwatchers and if we could enlist just one percent of them to help with this fieldwork, the results would be unlike anything ever achieved in Pennsylvania's bird conservation history. In fact, it probably would set a new standard for Atlas projects worldwide."          Since second Atlas survey work started one year ago, more than 70,000 bird sightings - representing an amazing 189 species - have been logged on the Atlas website at www.carnegiemnh.org/atlas/home.htm and more than 165 species have already been confirmed nesting in the state. In the first Atlas, 210 species were observed and 180 were confirmed to be nesting at the end of the six-year project.          Two new species already documented in new Atlas surveys that weren't recorded in the 1980s effort are the Sandhill crane and the Eurasian collared dove. Atlas workers also have reported some 30 'species of special concern' including least bittern, sedge wren, black tern, Swainson's thrush, dickcissel, yellow-bellied flycatcher, bald eagle, peregrine falcon, osprey and black-crowned night heron.          Other rare and unusual species observed in the second survey's first year included the clay-colored sparrow, chuck-will's-widow, ruddy duck, ring-necked duck and bufflehead.          The second Atlas includes a new, specialized statewide owl and whip-poor-will survey component that is being implemented this year. Experienced volunteer birders will be using a pre-recorded saw-whet owl call to document the presence, status and distribution of this secretive species. Saw-whets are one of the hardest birds to detect or find afield, but they're very responsive to calls. Survey participants also will log call-backs from other species of owls, as well as the calls of any whip-poor-wills and other night birds detected during these evening surveys.          "We know more about saw-whets now than we did 10 years ago, because of an innovative survey technique called a 'toot route" that was used by the Game Commission in 2000 and 2001 to locate saw-whets," Brauning noted. "Now we're hoping to use the technique statewide a develop a more definitive assessment of the saw-whet's distributional and conservation status."          Wetland birds also will receive special attention because they are typically overlooked in fieldwork for nesting in relatively secretive and hard-to-reach places. Wetland species monitoring is particularly important because they predominantly comprise Pennsylvania's lists of endangered and threatened species. The survey work will focus on species such as Virginia and Sora rails, least and American bitterns, and marsh wren.          "One of the greatest benefits about being involved with the second Atlas survey is that you have reason to get outdoors, possibly more than you normally would, have a chance to be involved in the state's most important bird conservation project in more than a decade, and simply enjoy the satisfaction and educational value of observing wildlife," Mulvihill said.          Atlas survey coordinators stress that volunteers can provide any level of assistance and that they can contribute in any or all of the survey's planned five years. Every single breeding bird observation, whether a common species, such as a robin, mourning dove or house sparrow seen by beginning "backyard" birdwatchers or a real rarity, such as a sandpiper or loggerhead shrike, documented by an expert and avid birder, will improve the Atlas and measurably add to our knowledge of the occurrence, status and distribution of Pennsylvania's birdlife.          When completed in 2008, the second Atlas will show changes in the occurrence and distribution of the state's nearly 200 species of nesting birds, and promises to provide much additional information. The use of technologies, such as globaal positioning satellites and geographic information systems data - unavailable when data for the first Atlas were collected - are expected to greatly improve the survey. Success in getting to the finish line, and the quantity and quality of data collected during the second Atlas will be directly influenced by the number of volunteers who participate, especially covering blocks in rural Pennsylvania, and their enthusiasm.          "Some dramatic changes have occurred in our forests as a result of forest pests and tree diseases, so we're keenly interested in seeing if the survey documents any significant changes in nesting for habitat specialists, particularly those that seek out hemlock, which has been impacted by the woolly adelgid," Brauning said. "This, our state tree, is important to birds as a nesting, roosting and food source. In fact, we are requesting that second Atlas volunteers record when hemlocks are present where they make their Atlas observations."          The availability of healthy - often specific or unique - habitats to support thriving bird populations is almost always the most important characteristic in defining and maintaining the diversity of Pennsylvania's birds, as well as securing their future. The second Atlas will chart species habitat preferences and reemphasize the importance of habitat diversity and habitat quality to all wild birds. They are unquestionably vital to Pennsylvania's ongoing and future bird conservation efforts.          Additional funding for the Atlas has been provided by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Wild Resource Conservation Fund. In-kind and other assistance is being provided by: DCNR's bureaus of Forestry and State Parks; Pennsylvania Audubon, Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology; Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center; Penn State Institutes of the Environment; Penn State School of Forest Resources; Powdermill Nature Reserve; National Parks Service; and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.