Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 09:45:54 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Re: Atlas safe dates MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All, Others have stated the issue correctly (notably David Mozurkewich), but because Danny invoked my name I decided to add my voice to the discussion. Danny Poet wrote: i agree birds nest earlier than the safe dates. Maybe someone can verse us on this . How about WalterE. the state compiler for the atlas ? There are codes used in the atlas that allow observers to count birds as possible or probable breeders based almost entirely on simple observation of birds in potential breeding habitat. Unfortunately these codes have no built in protection against counting migrants and other transient birds as potential nesters. The "safe dates" are designed to exclude virtually all non-breeding birds from consideration when you see a bird in a block. Killdeer migrate through Maryland from late February to mid-April even after some of the locals have begun nesting (witness Danny's find). If you find a bird that is clearly showing breeding behavior, especially confirmed breeding, the safe dates are superfluous. However there is also no need to change the safe dates because many birds "get the jump on them", there are still migrants going through that shouldn't be counted as "possible" nesters. I was delayed in joining this thread because I was up in Albany, NY the last couple of days cleaning out my old grad office. It's tempting to have a bonfire with all the paper I dumped. I got back last night only to find my provider's server was down, so more delay. I'm happy to see the atlas remains current and is generating lively discussion. Good Birding, Walter Ellison MD/DC Atlas Coordinator 23460 Clarissa Road Chestertown, MD 21620 (note address change) 410-778-9568 rossgull@crosslink.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================