METHODS 



Five teams of investigators conducted intensive surveys and inventories 

 during the spring and sumn^er of 1976 (Table 3) from North Carolina to Key 

 West, Florida. Inventories were complete in all areas except Georgia which 

 was less intensively searched due to limited time and personnel. Estimates 

 and counts of all nesting species were made on foot or by use of fixed-wing 

 aircraft and boats. Aircraft were used primarily in the initial location of 

 colonies. The census method employed at each site depended on the colony size 

 and accessibility, time, and work force available. In general, counts of 

 active nests were preferred to counts of adults because they indicated a total 

 nesting population and exclude the nonbreeding "surplus" birds associated with 

 the colony (Kadlec and Drury 1968). In response to a protracted nesting 

 season in southern regions (e.g., cormorants may nest in any month of the year 

 in Florida) several inventories were made at the same colonies from late 

 winter through the summer. 



Standardized census forms were provided to each investigator to ensure 

 that the data were collected uniformly. Survey results have been entered into 

 a data bank at the Colonial Bird Register, Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell 

 University, Ithaca, New York. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE ATLAS 



The atlas is arranged with 14 U.S. Geological Survey maps showing colony 

 locations, followed by tables summarizing the census results for each colony 

 on that map. The maps are photographically reduced from a scale of 1:250,000, 

 and arranged consecutively from north to south (Figure 1). Each map is as- 

 signed a three-digit locator number. Colony locations are referenced with a 

 six-digit number, the first three identifying the corresponding USGS map and 

 the last three identifying the individual colony. Colonies described in 

 earlier atlases (Osborn and Custer 1978, Erwin and Korschgen 1979) have re- 

 tained their previously assigned number. In addition, code numbers used by 

 Parnell and Soots (1979) have been listed for those colonies in North 

 Carolina. 



Tables following each map, describe colonies by name, state, latitude and 

 longitude, nest substrate, species composition, date of census, number of 

 breeding birds, nesting stage and inventory method. General site descriptions 

 include marsh, swamp, barrier beach, island-coastal (nonbarrier), or urban. 

 Nest site (micro-habitat) categories include sand or shell, dredged material, 

 driftage, herbaceous vegetation, trees or shrubs and artificial (e.g. roof 

 tops, runways). Nesting stages are described as pairing, prenesting, egg 

 laying, incubation, hatching, downy young, feathered young, flying young, 

 renesting, loafing, abandoned or unknown. Inventory methods include aerial 

 estimates (fixed-wing or rotary), ground estimate, aerial photographic count, 

 adult or nest count (ground), and sample count (point-centered quarter method 

 or line transect). 



