As of this afternoon, 2,174 eBird checklists have been shared with the ctbirdatlas account. Within those checklists, we have received almost 10,000 individual records with breeding codes attached, representing 152 potential breeding species. Given that the breeding season is still getting going for many species, this level of effort bodes well for the project’s success and we are very grateful to everyone who has shared their checklists.
The map below shows the distribution of those checklists across the atlas blocks. Not surprisingly there are more records along the coast, and in other places where people spend a lot of time birding (e.g., I can pick out an obvious cluster near my house!). There are also some large areas of white space, and we hope to see these fill in as people get out to their blocks over the next couple of months. Remember that any time you see breeding evidence for a species, you can submit the data. So, especially when you are in an under-birded part of the state, even reports of robins and blue jays could be valuable.
Given the rate at which data is being submitted, it is impossible for us to acknowledge every data submission. You can, however, easily check whether the checklists you have shared have been added to the atlas database. Simply go to your checklist and look at the information at the top. Once a checklist has been accepted, you will see “CT bird atlas” listed as one of the observers, as shown in the example here:
Shared checklists will not be accepted immediately, as we try to review them all, at least briefly, first. Consequently, there is often a lag of a few days, and this delay may grow as the number of submissions grows. But if a checklist has not been accepted after a week or more, feel free to re-share or check with us to make sure it didn’t get lost in the ether.