South Dakota Breeding Bird Atlas
The South Dakota Ornithologists' Union -- 1995
The distributions of bird species are constantly changing. Therefore, continual monitoring is required to maintain accurate, current information on their abundance and distribution. Such data are vital for the conservation management of species and for understanding the changes. Atlas projects have become an important part of the spectrum of methods and programs that are currently used to monitor bird species.
The South Dakota Breeding Bird Atlas Project fieldwork began in 1988 and continued through the 1993 nesting season. Six years and thousands of hours of work by 71 volunteers resulted in over 24,000 submitted records. Elimination of upgraded status records within blocks, duplicate records, and nonbreeding species records, reduced this to 19,906 records of 219 breeding species in the final database used to produce the species distribution maps.
The data presented are the most complete ever gathered on the nesting birds of the state. Of course there are areas that could have been better covered, and species that may have been missed, but these results are the best baseline available for future assessments of change in breeding species' abundance and distribution. The major benefits of the South Dakota Breeding Bird Atlas Project are yet to come. If you consider what similar data collected 25, 50, or 100 years ago would be worth today you realize that the value of the data presented here will increase with each passing year.
This resource is based on the following source:
Peterson, Richard A. 1995. The South Dakota breeding bird
atlas. South Dakota Ornithologists' Union. 276pp.
This resource should be cited as:
Peterson, Richard A. 1995. The South Dakota breeding bird
atlas. South Dakota Ornithologists' Union. Jamestown,
ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online.
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/sdatlas/index.htm
(Version 06JUL2000).
Copies of the publication are available for $10.00 plus $3.00 postage (checks made payable to SDOU) from:
Mr. Richard A. Peterson P.O. Box 118 Wewela, SD 57578Information about membership in the South Dakota Ornithologists' Union can be obtained from its treasurer:
Nelda Holden 1620 Elmwood Drive Brookings, SD 57006The South Dakota Breeding Bird Atlas Computer Database is available to individuals or groups who would have an interest and need for the data. The data base is available on a 3.5 inch high density disk. The data base software program is Paradox 4.5. There is a nominal fee of $5.00 for shipping and handling. Send requests to:
Robert Buckman Dakota State University Madison, SD 57042
Contents
Installation: Extract all files and open index.htm in a web browser.sdatlas.zip (4.9M) -- South Dakota Breeding Bird Atlas
