Dear Ospreyers -

As many of you know, MOS is producing an Atlas of the Breeding Birds of 
MD/DC. Species distribution is mapped over the state by "blocks", which 
are sections of standard US topographic maps. Ordinarily, one atlaser 
surveys one block and tries to find all the species breeding in it.

But owls are a special case because when an owl calls, the atlaser is 
not likely to be right there at the time. This is where the Osprey 
birding community can help. If you hear (or see) an owl - Great Horned, 
Barred, Screeech, or (rarely) Barn, say from your own residence, or hear 
from rural-dwelling friends and relatives that an owl is calling 
consistently within their hearing, then you would be doing a great 
service by reporting it to the Atlas Coordinator for your County. For PG 
  county, I'm the Coordinator and would welcome any reports you may 
have. Please e-mail me off-line and include your location by Long, Lat 
if you have it (and if you have a GPS unit, you do) or the nearest 
street intersection, and the date(s) you heard the owl. If a pair was 
duetting, include that info also.

For other counties, the coordinator's names and eddresses are listed on 
the MOS web site (www.MDBirds.org), under "Breeding Bird Atlas" on the 
left menu, then "2002-2006 Atlas", then "County Coordinators" on the 
menu below. Yours could be a record that fills in a missing gap.


Fred Fallon
PG Coordinator, MD-DC Breeding Bird Atlas
Bowie MD