Virginia Bird Breeding Atlas gets an update.
Red-bellied woodpecker.
Photos by Bob Schamerhorn
Loggerhead shrike.
Ruby-throated hummingbird.
Northwest screech owl.
They’re at it again. Last spring, the folks behind the Virginia Bird Breeding Atlas (VBBA), first published more than 25 years ago, began a new study to update where and when the Commonwealth’s bird species are breeding.
“Keeping track of which birds are present or are breeding in an area is one of the best ways to track environmental health,” says Steven Hopp, who serves as the VBBA’s southwestern Virginia regional coordinator and is co-author with his wife Barbara Kingsolver of 2008’s best-seller Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. professor of environmental science at Emory and Henry College and owner of the lauded farm-to-table Harvest Table Restaurant in Meadowview.
“The data allows us to see how natural systems are responding to human disturbances, changes in land use, or changes in climate.” A partnership between, among others, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Virginia Tech and the Virginia Society of Ornithologists, the study is the largest—and arguably most important—of its kind ever undertaken by the state. VBBA is looking for volunteers to help collect data. VABBA2.org
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