What Kind of Atlasser Am I:

Photo: Annie Lindsay

Farmers

There are many bird species that are largely or entirely dependent on Pennsylvania's farmland habitats for nesting. While bird watchers often consider these species to be rare or difficult to find, many of these birds are well known to those who spend countless hours outdoors in spring and summer on Pennsylvania's working farms. The 2nd Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas, co-sponsored by the PA Game Commission and Carnegie Museum of Natural History, wants and needs help from Pennsylvania's farmers, so that we can be sure that when the Atlas is finished in 2008, the tremendous value of farmland habitats to bird diversity in Pennsylvania is well-documented! We realize that many farmers do not necessarily consider themselves bird watchers or even know birds by the same common names that bird watchers do. If you're a farmer, though, we'll bet you are familiar with many kinds of birds, maybe even more familiar with some kinds than the average bird watcher!

To help make it as easy as possible for you to participate, we have made up a two-page form that will enable us to register you as a volunteer and enter your bird observations into the growing database for the 2nd Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas (click on the picture of the form to open and print or download the form; you must have an Adobe product installed on your computer to view or print this document). By doing this, you can count yourself among the thousands of volunteers who are literally putting their birds on the Pennsylvania map. You will be acknowledged for your contributions in the final published book, and you will receive the very informative and interesting project newsletter, The PennsylAvian Monitor, 2-3 times a year. The 2nd PBBA is a project that can involve everyone in your family, regardless of age or bird watching experience. Pennsylvania's farmland habitats are crucial to many of the state's most interesting birds, and we sincerely hope you will help us to learn more about the birds near you, so that we can conserve them and the habitats they depend upon in Pennsylvania for many years to come.

Click the image on the left to open the two-page form (1.0 Mb PDF) in a new window. You can print it out and mail it to the address specified on the form.

PDF files require Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, click here for the free download.