San Diego Natural History Museum Bird Atlas
Bird Atlases are important reference works that map the presence of bird species in greater detail than you’ll find on the maps in your field guide. They are necessarily local efforts. The San Diego Natural History Museum Bird Atlas has completed its data collection and initial publication phases…a massive effort by citizen scientists:
The project was an effort of epic proportions, guided by Curator of Birds and Mammals Phil Unitt, but depending on the enthusiastic participation of over 400 trained volunteers throughout the county, an extremely biodiverse area covering 4,200 square miles. These citizen scientists spent a total of over 55,000 hours searching for, observing, recording, and documenting San Diego County’s birds, represented by some 499 species altogether. The project spanned 6 years from 1997 to 2003, and the resulting voluminous body of information as summarized in the 645-page San Diego County Bird Atlas led Phil Unitt to state that “the birds of San Diego County are now among the best known in the world.” The Atlas has already provided critical information for conservation decisions made in the County, but much broader impacts are noted by one reviewer, who sees the area in regard to habitat conservation planning as a “robust microcosm of California and the entire nation.”
And, wow, do I love that the data is also available in Google Earth!
The printed work can be purchased on Amazon.com
