I went online to find information about a Vermont bird book mentioned briefly in the Boston Globe this week. I found more at Seattle pi, of all places (the pi comes from Post-Intelligencer, the newspaper’s name before becoming completely virtual).
Seattle pi writes, “Some bird species that depended on open farmland have seen their populations drop over the last three decades while the land has grown up into forests, but during that time some other bird species have become more common than they were, according to the new book, the ‘Second Atlas of Breeding Birds of Vermont.’ …
“The book was produced by the Norwich based Center for Eco-studies and the Department of Fish and Wildlife and is described as the most complete assessment of birds ever assembled for Vermont.
“The book took 10 years to produce with input from 350 volunteers who spent 30,000 hours working on the project. … [It] includes 208 photographs, 415 maps, 591 tables and 215 graphs.
“We cannot know the nature of Vermont, the health of the woodlands, wetlands and other wild places, without knowing the status of our birds,” said Rosalind Renfrew, a biologist with the Center who edited the book.” More.
I like the image of 350 volunteers. Birds rely on volunteer bird lovers in so many ways. John has helped with the Christmas bird count in the Boston area. And his son already identifies a few birds, with additional support from John’s bird-loving wife. Imagine how many birds my grandson will recognize by the time he is three!
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 