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Safe
Dates Safe
dates are sometimes very confusing to new atlassers. Basically,
the Safe Dates are a length of time within which a breeding bird
is seen. This may sound confusing, but think about it like this:
Safe Dates come into play only when you simply observe a bird. These
are for Observed or Possible Breeding Codes, “O” and
“X” respectively. These dates were selected not to define
the nesting season, but rather to exclude observations of migrants
or other non-breeding individuals of the species, which often overlap
in their occurrence in Pennsylvania with true nesting birds. See
the diagram on this page for a visual explanation.
The only difference
between “Observed” and “Possible” Breeding
codes has to do with whether or not the observation was made
in
suitable breeding habitat for the species (see Handbook
for Participants, Appendix 1). All other breeding
Evidence observed cancels out the Safe Dates. For example, if you
observed a Black-throated Green Warbler nest building on May 25,
it doesn’t matter that the observation is outside the Safe
Dates for that species. However, if you simply saw a Black-throated
Green feeding
in a Hemlock – Breeding Code X, on the same day, you should
go back to the Safe Dates to make sure the bird you saw was not
still a migrant. If you returned to the same area on June 1st (the
first day of the Safe Date) and observed one singing, then you
could
go ahead and include that observation in your records. Be advised
that observations of birds outside of the Safe Dates that were
simply
observed (codes O and X), will not be accepted during Data Entry.
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