ORNITHOLOGICAL LITERATURE 
859 
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center partnered with 
MOS with the express intent of making this 
second atlas ‘a model for establishing a nation¬ 
wide network to monitor changes in bird popula¬ 
tion.’ as Ellison notes. Data management for the 
project was conducted in coordination with the 
National Biological Information Ini restructure 
and with an eye to the most advanced practices 
from recent European atlas work. 1 his remarkable 
alignment of agencies and resources was further 
helped by the generosity of many thousands of 
landowners, who welcomed atlasers onto their 
properties, and by considerable financial contri¬ 
butions from private individuals from all over the 
region, many of whom also volunteered their time 
as atlasers. 
All 1,284 atlas blocks were covered at least 
once, and most were covered multiple times, with 
>190,000 bird records entered in the main data 
base. Highlv qualified volunteers also conducted 
■mini-routes,’ as in the first atlas project, to 
provide an index of species abundance, not just 
distribution. This method involves making 15 3- 
min stops at fixed points, and all species detected 
are recorded for each slop. Data from these mini¬ 
routes were maintained in a separate data base and 
compared to earlier results. 
Two species were recorded breeding lor the 
first time ever in Maryland during the second atlas 
work, Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 
and Ruddy Duck (O.xyura jamaicensis). Three 
species, Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata ), 
Wilson's Plover (Charadrius wilsonia), and Be¬ 
wick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii), all docu¬ 
mented nesting during the first atlas, were not 
detected during 2002-2006. In all. 206 species 
were found nesting in Maryland and the District 
during the second atlas, and accounts for these 
species occupy the bulk (404 pages) ol the present 
volume. The editor and many volunteer authors ot 
these accounts, in lucid, terse prose, oiler not just 
a comparison of past and present status but also an 
overview of environmental and other factors Mat 
have led to changes in distribution or to decreases 
and increases in populations. as wel1 ° S P rovlding 
copious specifics on the discovery and documen¬ 
tation of exceptional records. 
As in the first atlas, each species account 
occupies just two pages: the first page has text and 
a photograph of the species, and the lacing page 
has up to five maps and charts. The latter page 
typically includes: a map depicting the number o 
atlas blocks in which the species was detected 
(and at what category of certainty for nesting 
activity); a map depicting the difference in bird 
distribution/detection between the first and second 
atlases; a map depicting the species' relative 
abundance (from the mini-routes); a chart show¬ 
ing the change in total blocks between the two 
atlases (by region); and a graph illustrating the 
results of the Breeding Bird Survey from 1966 
through 2006. 
These species accounts are compact, but one 
may spend nearly an hour poring over just a single 
one. as they are data-rich and thought-provoking. 
The accounts may not hold many surprises to 
veteran students of bird distribution in the mid- 
Atlantic; the dynamics of so many of the species 
that are losing or gaining ground are familial from 
adjacent states as well. However, to see these 
changes depicted at small scale, by a project 
whose protocols were clearly professional, is 
breathtaking, especially for species such as 
Northern Bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus), which 
has essentially disappeared from most of Mary¬ 
land in the span of two decades, from the foothills 
of the Alleghenies to Cecil County in the 
northeastern part of the state. Just a glance at 
maps tor Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus 
savunnarum ), Common Nighthawk ( Chordeiles 
minor), and Eastern Meadowlark ( Stumella mag¬ 
ma) tells a similar story about the costs of 
urbanization, and maps lor Prairie Warbler 
(Dendroica discolor), Yellow-breasted Chat (fe¬ 
te ria virens). Yellow Warbler ( Dendroica pete¬ 
chia), Eastern Whip-poor-will ( Caprimulgus vo- 
cifents). Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta 
varia), and Kentucky Warbler ( Qporornis for- 
mosits) show that many birds of successional and 
forest edge habitats no longer nest across large 
areas of the state where they were widespread just 
a few years ago. For anyone who works in bird 
conservation at the regional level, these species 
accounts (and related data), along with Breeding 
Bird Survey data, provide the best information 
available for the prioritizing of land acquisition, 
preservation, and management on behalf ol 
nesting birds. 
One of the greatest improvements from the first 
atlas, in terms of presentation, is the use of color 
printing for the second atlas, which makes 
interpretation of maps far easier. The second atlas 
does not reproduce all of the I ront and back matter 
of the first (which had more extensive sections on 
physiography and climate, for instance) but 
presents photographs of habitat types and land- 
