The Breeding Bird Atlas of Georgia

From 1994 to 2001, over a thousand birders scoured the state of Georgia looking for breeding birds. It took the better part of ten years, but now the data they collected has been analyzed and distilled into The Breeding Bird Atlas of Georgia. It was worth the wait.

The Atlas contains an account for each bird found breeding in Georgia during this period, 182 species in all. A full two-page spread is allocated to each account, with the text and a color photograph on the left-hand side, along with a map and graphs on the right. The text includes:

• Introduction – overview of the species, possibly including information on identification, habits, subspecies, and other miscellaneous things that don’t fall under one of the other categories
• Habitat and Life History – including breeding info
• Distribution
• Status – population trends
• Conservation

There is an abundance of information in these accounts. One thing I was very pleased to see was that subspecies information is included where appropriate. Some of the information is general in nature, but most of it applies to the bird specifically in this state.

This state-specific information is especially interesting. For instance, it’s intriguing that the Cerulean Warblers breeding in the Ivylog-Gumlog area use habitat that is unusually open compared with the preferred habitat elsewhere in their range. Besides the obvious management implications, that’s a nice puzzle for some enterprising researcher to tackle.

The large, color maps plot the breeding occurrences in great detail, with symbols denoting possible, probable, and confirmed records. You can learn much just by browsing through the maps – I hadn’t realized that Worm-eating Warblers bred south to the Fall Line, and possibly even below it! For most species, there is also a table of sampling information and a population trend graph using data from the Breeding Bird Survey.

Each account includes a single color photo. These photos are fairly large, and generally great. There are only a very few that I consider below par. Even with these photos, it should be noted that this is not intended for use as a field guide. Besides, with its large dimensions and hefty weight, you’d have to hire a porter to carry this into the field for you!

As if this weren’t enough, an extensive introduction covers the survey methodology, Georgia’s ecoregions and habitats, changes in bird distribution, and conservation. After you dive right in to the species accounts (and you know you will), it’s well worth going back and reading these sections.

Recommendation

The San Diego County Bird Atlas is a highly regarded breeding bird atlas. When I saw how well it was adapted electronically for Google Earth (and available for free!), I thought that printed atlases were a thing of the past. I hope that The Breeding Bird Atlas of Georgia will eventually be available electronically as well, but this bound version is so well produced that I can’t imagine being without it.

A wealth of information that’s a pleasure to immerse yourself in, the Atlas will be an indispensable tool for anyone who birds in Georgia regularly.