For those of you who haven't seen it, or taken time to read it yet, I
recommend the "Changing Seasons" article in the most recent North American
Birds (the
Fall Migration 2004 issue). Brian Sullivan and Chris Wood, this issue's
guest authors, are the Project Leaders for eBird, and they do a very nice job
of
showing how important it is to keep track of our more common birds, not just
the vagrants, accidentals, and the T&E species. They make their points using
not only eBird data, but also BBS and CBC data. Of particular interest to
Virginia birders is the focus on a couple of species that are showing
widespread
declines (including right here at home), American Kestrel and Northern Flicker.
They also use eBird data to illustrate the dramatic increase in Cave Swallow
occurrence in recent years. I hope that everyone on VA-BIRD is also a regular
eBird contributor and a subscriber to NAB; if not, it's never too late to
start so that your data too can become a part of these critical anayses that
will
help us conserve our avian heritage.
Dave Davis
Arlington
