You may navigate to more information about the species through one of the links or by clicking on the thumbnail maps or the date distribution.
Prv and Nxt take you to the previous or next species in the list, according to the order you had selected on the species list page.
1, 2, etc show different photographs of the species.
Text, Dist, Hab, Obs, Anlys show different aspects to the breeding distribution.
? brings up this help screen.
This is a small version of
the same map you see when you click on the map. It
depicts the hexagons in which the species was observed
with some breeding activity. The shading of the color
of the hexagon indicates the certainty with which the
observation confirms breeding activity, with the lighter shade
representing possible breeding activity, the medium shade
representing probable activity, and the darker shade representing
confirmed activity.
This depicts, in dark green,
areas in
the state where there is
habitat of a type associated with the species.
The species range is often limited by other factors not related
to the habitat.
This range is depicted in the lighter (ochre) color. This species
range serves as a mask when looking at suitable habitat.
Clicking on this map brings up a
closer view of the habitat/breeding association where
only the masked areas of habitat are depicted, along
with an overlay of the distribution map.
The graph of breeding dates shows when breeding activity was reported
for the species. It depicts the percentage of observations relative
to the calendar, divided into weeks. The height of the bar shows the relative
number of observations of confirmed breeding for the
species during a given week. The shading of the bar indicates
the type of observation, with
the bright red representing nest building
activities (code NB),
the dark brown representing nesting activities (codes NE, AC, and NC),
and the
orange shade representing activites with young birds (codes CF, FL, NY, and FS).
At the top of the graph is the number of observations making up the graph. These observations were of confirmed breeding where the date of the observation was recorded. (See Evidence of breeding for definitions of the breeding codes.)
Be careful when interpreting these graphs. Atlas project participants did not spend equal effort searching for breeding evidence during all months. Most field activity was concentrated around mid-June, and participants noted only the earliest breeding of individual birds they observed.
The following gives background on the sections you find in the right-hand pane of the window.
Synopsis This is a general summary of where the species is known to breed in Oregon. Although based partly on the accompanying map, the synopsis also takes into account other published information and judgments of experienced birders. Historical changes in range are noted, but relative abundance and its trends are not described inasmuch as such data were not collected by the atlas project. The most notable findings of the atlas project are highlighted for most species. Records that were deemed notable are mostly ones that update or correct the maps published in Csuti et al. (1997).
Associations with Mapped Vegetation This lists the mapped vegetation classes that we believe the species is most likely to be associated with during the breeding season. In parentheses next to each class is the acreage of that class as it has been mapped within those hexagons where the species was found. We grouped the vegetation classes under subheadings that characterize what we believe is the degree of affinity between the species and the mapped vegetation class: Strongest Association With, Strong Association With, Some Association With, and Lesser Association With. These relative terms have no absolute meaning with regard to the statistical probability of species occurrence, population densities, or sustainability of a breeding population. Even the vegetation classes that are categorized as �Strongest Association� may be less than 1% occupied by a species.
We assigned vegetation classes to species and loosely ranked the classes based partly on our birding experience, and partly on our review of a tabular compilation of vegetation classes present and absent along BBS routes and in atlas project squares where the species was and was not found. Except for classes labeled �Lesser Association,� the locations of listed classes are shown in the �Possible Habitat� map of the associated species.
The 62 vegetation classes that we considered were originally defined and mapped from 1992 satellite imagery by the Oregon Natural Heritage Program, and have several limitations (see Limitations of the data). Text and photographs describing each class in detail can be reviewed in the Habitat section. Note that a bird species often does not nest directly in the plant that is the basis for the class name (e.g., Red Alder), but rather with plants, microclimates, or other environmental features (and other vegetation classes) that tend to be associated with the class. In the few instances where a species (e.g., cliff-nesting falcons) have virtually no association with any of the vegetation classes or their correlated environments, this is so noted under the Associations heading.
Relative Detectability This is our best estimate of how easy it would be to find and confirm breeding of the species, based on its size, typical behavior, identifying characteristics, and usual accessibility of its preferred habitats. The assigning of detectability ratings also considered whether the species had been the object of focused surveys (usually by government agencies) during the project period. The rating was not based on the relative abundance of the species or an analysis of any atlas project data. When used with the species map, the rating helps explain whether some of the absences implied by the map are genuine or more likely due to atlas project participants not finding the species due to its secretive behavior or other factors. The terms we used to describe detectability � very easy, easy, fairly difficult, difficult, very difficult � are necessarily imprecise.
Challenge This highlights what we feel are the most important data gaps remaining with regard to the distribution of the species in Oregon. These were identified partly by identifying (a) regions where previously published works described the species as breeding, but where it was not found during the atlas project, and/or (b) regions proximate to the species� expected range and which appear to have extensive habitat of at least marginal suitability to the species, but where the species was not found during the atlas project.