Barbara Passmore, trustee.
The maps provided at this web site depict breeding distributions of Florida birds as recorded by volunteers working on the Florida Breeding Bird Atlas Project. The data were obtained from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission through a freedom of information request in May 2000. The Florida Ornithological Society is grateful for the support the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has provided in making the maps available. The intent of this web page is to provide a complete set of draft maps to birders who helped collect atlas data as well as to the interested public. The words draft maps must be emphasized here since the maps are still under review and will likely change before formal publication.
Field surveys for the Florida Atlas project began in 1986 and were concluded in 1991. Volunteers visited atlas blocks and recorded the birds found there. The grid used to delineate atlas blocks was the 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle maps prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey. Each 7.5-minute quadrangle was divided into 6 equal-sized atlas blocks that encompassed about 10 miles2 (25 km2). Florida is made up of approximately 6,234 atlas blocks, but not all of these were visited.
Atlas volunteers were provided a handbook describing data collection methods and were encouraged "...to locate every bird species breeding within your assigned block...." Evidence of breeding was subdivided into 3 broad categories: POSSIBLE, PROBABLE, and CONFIRMED. These categories are shown as different symbols on the distributional maps in this booklet. The breeding evidence goes as follows.
POSSIBLE: species observed in breeding season in suitable habitat; singing male present or breeding calls heard in suitable nesting habitat but not in breeding season.
PROBABLE: pair observed in suitable habitat in breeding season; bird apparently holding or defending a territory or singing male present on at least two days, a week or more apart; courtship behavior or copulation observed; species visiting probable nesting site; agitated behavior or anxiety calls observed; brood patch observed; nest building or excavation of a nest cavity, or bird carrying nesting material observed; or seven or more territorial males in a block observed at least a week apart.
CONFIRMED: distraction display or adult feigning injury; used nests or egg shells found; female with egg in oviduct; recently fledged young observed; adult on nest or seen in circumstances indicating an occupied nest; adults carrying fecal sac or food; nest with eggs; or nest with young.
The Atlas project was conceived and promoted by Dr. Herbert W. Kale, II, chief ornithologist with Florida Audubon Society until his death in 1995. It is regrettable that Dr. Kale did not live to see the atlas project printed. Other people who helped organize data, motivate participants, and create maps included Wes Biggs, Bill Pranty, and Dr. Brad Stith. Stuart Cumberbatch and Brian Millsap with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission helped to assemble the maps for this booklet. There of course were hundreds of other people involved in this project, and a more comprehensive acknowledgment will appear in the final publication.
Original versions of these maps were submitted in a final report in 1992. The reference we suggest you use for the maps is:
Kale, H.W., II, B.S. Pranty, B.S. Stith, and W.S. Biggs. 1992. An atlas of Florida's breeding birds. Final report. Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Maps are organized alphabetically by Common Names.
Distribution Maps
All maps are stored as a jpeg with a resolution of 72 pixels/inch and overall dimensions of 10.667" x 14.069". With these dimensions, the image file may not fit on some viewers unless a "Fit Image to Window" option is used. You may want to view the images by saving them to a local drive and then opening the files in Adobe Photoshop, Freelance, PowerPoint, Wordperfect, Word, or similar applications for viewing and printing.