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About the Atlas
The Maryland/DC Breeding Bird Atlas is a project which aims to map the distribution of
all breeding bird species in the state. The atlasing effort hasl extended over 5 years starting in Jan 2002. This current atlas will up-date an earlier atlas completed in 1983 and reveal
changes in distribution since then. Future versions will no doubt be compiled in the decades and indeed centuries to come.
The atlasing grid consists of "blocks" formed by the standard USGS 1:24000 topo maps as divided into sixths: NW,NE, C("central")W,CE,SW,and SE. This makes about 1300 blocks in all, each about 3 miles on a side. The presence of a single breeding pair within an Atlas block constitutes a data point in the breeding distribution of that species. For higher spatial resolution, the Blocks in central MD plus Garrett and Dorchester Counties are further divided into quarterblocks.
The resolution in time is the entire 5 years of data collection - the appearance of a bird in a block for any year of the 5 year period counts as a data point even if it subsequently disappeared from the block before the count period was over.
Each Atlas block is assigned a "captain", who takes on the responsibility for finding the breeding birds in that block. All birders are invited to report any breeding evidence they come across anywhere in the state, whether or not in a block assigned to them.
For more information on the Atlas see The Maryland Ornithological Society's Atlas Page
To see resullts for any block in the state and list of blocks where a species has been found, see the MD/DC Atlas website . Click on Maryland and the “Results” tab, then select a block or a species. You do not need to log on if you stay within “Results”.
Prince Georges County
This website presents Atlas information for blocks in Prince Georges County. The menu at left has links to distribution maps for each species and to a clickable map of the county pointing to information on the status of each block - total numbers of species recorded by confirmation level and the sum of quarter-blocks over all species recorded, and a link to the block captain to whom you may relay sightings for that block.
Other Counties
For information relating to other counties, select from the following list, and contact the County Coordinator via the e-mail link provided.
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