Building California's First Statewide Breeding Bird Atlas

Join Van Pierszalowskifor an overview of the California Bird Atlas project, one of the most ambitious community-driven research efforts ever undertaken in the state. While 44 states have already completed a statewide breeding bird atlas, California has long been an outlier. That is now changing.

The Atlas officially launched in January 2026 and will document the breeding distribution and behavior of every bird species across California during a five-year field period (2026 - 2030). Organized by the nonprofit California Bird Atlas in collaboration with partners statewide, including Monterey Audubon Society, this talk will explain how the project works, how birders of all experience levels can participate, and share an early status update from the first months of fieldwork.

Izzy Abbot Lecture Hall