3rd Pennsylvania Bird Atlas

A Breeding Bird Atlas is an effort to understand the distribution, abundance, long-term change and seasonal patterns of birds breeding in a specific region. They often are conducted by the help of volunteers to cover a wide geographic area. Anyone can help collect data for the atlas—in fact, majority of the data collected is by volunteers!

The Atlas will provide a snapshot of the population status and distribution of birds in the Commonwealth. No other bird surveys are as comprehensive, and for that reason, the results are critical to the establishment of conservation priorities for Pennsylvania birds!

The Atlas will be open to all volunteer birders, regardless of skill level, primarily by using the popular "eB​ird" online database to record observations. It also will be the first time a Pennsylvania Bird Atlas will incorporate winter surveys in addition to breeding season surveys, which will help refine the understanding of the year-round distribution and relative abundance of Pennsylvania's bird populations.

Partnerships

The 3rd Atlas is made possible through our partnerships with Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology, the Pennsylvania Bird Atlas Steering Committee and the thousands of bird enthusiasts like you! 

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in partnership with the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) and the Pennsylvania Bird Atlas Steering Committee announced it has selected Amber Wiewel, Boalsburg, to serve as the coordinator of the 3rd Pennsylvania Bird Atlas.

Amber will work out of Hawk Mountain and closely with an Atlas steering committee and regional coordinator team. 

Amber w​ill report directly to Dr. Laurie Goodrich, Director of Conservation Science at the Sanctuary, and Dr. Sean Murphy, PGC State Ornithologist, while working closely with the steering committee. The five-year project will be headquartered at Hawk Mountain with much work occurring remotely and using a vast network of volunteer birders statewide. ​