For more than a decade, hundreds of volunteers, scientists, and conservationists across Virginia have worked together to document the commonwealth’s bird life.
Their shared effort comes to life with the release of the Second Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas, an online resource that provides an in-depth look at where birds breed, how populations have shifted, and what those trends mean for conservation.
The project was led by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources in partnership with Virginia Society of Ornithology and Virginia Tech’s Conservation Management Institute.
“The atlas website is unique in providing an online, one-stop shop for Virginia-specific information on all our breeding bird species,” said Sergio Harding, a nongame bird conservation biologist with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. “It is ultimately a multi-use conservation tool intended to inform planning, education and outreach, research, habitat management and even land acquisition.”
Volunteers collected data from 2016-20, building on an earlier atlas completed in the 1980s. Together, these datasets offer one of the most comprehensive views of Virginia’s bird species ever assembled.
“This was truly one of the best team efforts I’ve ever been part of,” said Dixie Sommers, a Virginia Society of Ornithology board member who helped lead the project’s publication. “Everyone, from the volunteers and field teams to the technical experts, carried their weight. It was a 10-year endeavor, and every piece of it was done with commitment and collaboration.”
Scott Klopfer, director of the Conservation Management Institute, said the atlas demonstrates the value of large-scale, community-driven science.
“It’s impossible to get a statewide snapshot like this without hundreds of people on the ground working together,” he said. “The atlas is useful to anyone interested in Virginia’s natural heritage, from birders to land managers, because it shows where species are found, how populations are changing, and how we can better protect them.”
Unlike many similar efforts in other states, Virginia’s atlas is fully digital. Its online format makes it easier to navigate, compare data, and explore interactive maps for 203 breeding species.
Users can view how the distribution of birds such as the Canada goose, eastern meadowlark, or wood thrush has changed between the first atlas (1985–89) and the second (2016–20).
“We wanted something people could actually use,” Sommers said. “Other atlases are often printed books, beautiful but expensive and bulky. Putting ours online means anyone can access it and use it for conservation, education, or enjoyment.”
The Virginia Society of Ornithology raised more than $300,000 to fund the digital publication, while the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources supported fieldwork and data analysis. For Virginia Tech, the project represents the land-grant mission in action: connecting research with communities and empowering Virginians to act as stewards of their environment.
“Partnerships like this are what make conservation work,” Klopfer said. “When science and communities come together, we create tools that help protect the places and species that make Virginia unique.”
Explore the Second Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas at vabirdatlas.org.
By Max Esterhuizen
