The Breeding Bird Atlas idea itself stemmed from an atlas effort that took place in Great Britain from 1968 to 1972. Ornithologists there dramatically improved their knowledge of the islands' breeding bird distribution when they divided all of Britain and Ireland into survey blocks. More than 10,000 contributors went into the field to look for breeding birds in approximately 244,000 blocks and reported their findings. In 1976 The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland (Sharrock 1976) was published.

The idea of this grid-based atlassing spread quickly, and in 1976 the Danish and French also published their atlases. Soon after, most other European nations, New Zealand, and several African countries published similar works. In the U.S. in 1971, Maryland initiated a county atlas and soon after, in the mid-1970’s, both Vermont and Maryland began the first statewide atlassing effort in the United States.

Several eastern states quickly followed suit including Pennsylvania. In 1979 the Pennsylvania Biological Survey (PBS) was formed, which consisted of various committees representing various taxonomic groups, which compiled the first state lists of endangered, threatened, and special- concern species. A conference was held at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 1980 and work published as Species of Special Concern in Pennsylvania (Genoways and Brenner 1985). Frank Gill acknowledged that “In Preparation of this document, we discovered how little we really know about the breeding distribution and status of Pennsylvania’s birds.” He called on the ornithological community to undertake “an intense effort to gather more information.” The PBS bird committee members, conference participants, and survey correspondents formed the basis for what would eventually lead to the Breeding Bird Atlas Project.

Next page: The First Breeding Bird Atlas