Geo-Referencing Your Record 

Over the course of the next five years, the 2nd PBBA will be collecting vast amounts of data that will greatly improve our understanding of the factors affecting the distributions of birds within Pennsylvania and at larger geographic scales as well. Although the 1st PBBA mapped bird occurrences at a scale no smaller than the Atlas block itself (i.e., 25 sq.-km.), in the 2nd Atlas, volunteers will have the capability of pinpointing their observations of individual birds using GPS units in the field or by using a map locator tool when they enter their observations on the Atlas website. Additionally, in the 2nd Atlas volunteers may record multiple occurrences of any species within their block, instead of merely the record that constitutes the highest level of breeding confirmation for a species. In this way, the 2nd Atlas will far exceed the total number of stored records compared to the 1st Atlas, and details of bird distributions “hidden” by the larger scale of the Atlas blocks will be revealed by analysis of those Atlas records that have been precisely geo-referenced using GPS or online GIS mapping tools.

Although any record (yes, even the Robin nesting in your front yard) can be georeferenced, for selected bird sightings, e.g,., statewide or regionally rare species, species of special concern, or species of general conservation interest, please either record precise GPS coordinates (for consistency of atlas records please set your GPS to record locations in decimal degrees using the NAD 83 datum), or reference your sightings to a copy of a detailed topo map of your block, printable from our website, which can be used later to precisely locate the coordinates of your sighting when you enter it on the website. A clearly dated copy of your block map with hand-drawn points corresponding to the numbered entries on your field card for the same date will work well.